The work of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group is important. This was stated by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, but he decided not to comment on its future after the arrival of the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump, UNN reports with reference to Radio Liberty.
"Regarding the contact group: your question is about whether the next administration will decide to continue this work. This should be the decision of the next administration. It is a decision they will make to continue the work of the Contact Group. I'm not going to add to the speculation right now about whether that's going to happen," Austin said at a briefing after the Ramstein meeting.
According to him, the work of the Contact Group is important not only for Ukraine, but also "for the United States of America, for Europe and for the whole world.
The U.S. Secretary of Defense also noted that he had "heard from my colleagues on numerous occasions that they really think this is important and believe this format has worked well.
"We'll see how it goes. Of course, it's not the only format that can work, but they think it's important," Austin said.
Recall
On January 9, the 25th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group was held at the Ramstein air base in Germany. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who chaired his last meeting in the Ramstein format, announced an aid package worth about $500 million.