For the first time the Pentagon’s head will miss the Ramstayna meeting – AR

US Defense Minister Pete Hegset. Photo Getty Images

For the first time three years since the establishment of a contact group for coordination of military assistance to Ukraine, known as the Ramstein format, the US Secretary of Defense will not participate in its meeting.

Source: Associated Press with reference to American official

Details: For the first time since the creation of the United States of the International Group for Coordination of Military Aid to Ukraine three years ago, the Pentagon leader will not be present at a meeting of more than 50 other defense leaders on Wednesday.

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Defense Minister Pete Hegset, who returned from the National Security Conference in Singapore on Sunday, will only arrive in Brussels on Wednesday night, after the meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine.

An American official on the conditions of anonymity confirmed AR that Hegset would also not participate with a video.

Literally AR: “This is the last of a series of steps that the US has taken to distance themselves from war in Ukraine.

And this happens immediately after the warning of French President Emmanuel Macron at the Safety Conference of the Last Weekends that the US and others risk the use of dangerous double standards, if their focus on potential conflict with China will be at the price of refusing to assist Ukraine. ”

Prehistory:

• Hegset, Lloyd Austin, created a contact group after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
• Since then, more than 50 Member States have provided Ukraine with about $ 126 billion in military assistance, including over $ 66.5 billion from the United States.
• Under the leadership of Austin, the United States performed the duties of the Chairman of the group, and he and the chairman of the Joint Committee of Chiefs of Staff attended monthly meetings, which were held both personally and through video communications.