The high-level meeting on Ukraine scheduled for Saturday at the Ramstein air base in Germany was postponed after US President Joe Biden canceled his participation due to Hurricane Milton, the German edition dpa reports, citing the US command at the Ramstein base, UNN writes.
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Announcements on further meetings of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a U.S.-led body that will soon be incorporated into NATO, will be forthcoming, the command said.
The postponement of the summit, as noted, did not come as a surprise, as Biden was scheduled to hold a meeting, but on Tuesday decided that he would not be able to come to Germany and also canceled his subsequent trip to Angola.
The Biden administration has expressed serious concern about Hurricane Matthew, a powerful storm that is likely headed for regions of the United States, including Florida, which was recently hit hard by Hurricane Helene.
The US president was expected to arrive in Berlin on Thursday evening, where he was to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Biden then planned to travel to the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate for a summit at the US air base in Ramstein.
German government spokesman Steffen Gebestreit confirmed that "the summit on Ukraine scheduled for Saturday will not take place.
A separate meeting that was to have been attended by Scholz and Biden, as well as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, was also canceled, Gebestreit added.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who was supposed to accompany President Biden on his trip, will not travel to Germany either.
Following Biden: Blinken postpones visit to Germany, where Ramstein was to take place09.10.24, 10:31