The eighth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group opened at the US air base in Ramstein, Germany, on January 20, 2023, with defence leaders from about 50 countries taking part, Ukrinform reported.
“A decisive moment”
Opening the meeting, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the participating countries were committed to supporting Ukraine “as long as needed” and called it “a decisive moment for Ukraine and the whole world.”
The meeting was attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov. Participants held a moment of silence for the victims of a helicopter crash in Brovary earlier that week, which killed Ukraine’s interior minister and others.
The tank question
The meeting took place amid intense debate over whether Germany would send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine or allow other countries to re-export them, as Kyiv sought heavy armour for a spring counteroffensive. Germany’s new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said after the meeting that no decision had yet been made.
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group, launched by the United States in April 2022, coordinates military assistance to Ukraine from dozens of countries.
Sources
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