“In Germany, on January 9, after a long break, the 25th meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine was held at the Ramstein Air Base”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“We have already mentioned that we are holding the next Rammstein in February,” said Umyerov. – We want the USA to stay and strengthen its presence, the formats are different, as you know, we created NSATU (format under the auspices of NATO), there are several European countries that want to lead it, or co-lead it, because it is being done together with Ukraine. Therefore, I do not see any problems at the moment, because we have already agreed on the next “Rammstein”
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who held his last meeting in the post, refrained from predicting the future format under the new administration.
“Regarding the Contact Group: this should be a decision of the next administration. I’m not going to speculate right now on whether that will happen,” Austin said.
The Minister of Defense of Estonia, Hanno Pevkur, in a comment to Radio Liberty, assured that regardless of the fate of Ramstein, the countries will continue to help Ukraine through various coalitions of capabilities – from fighter jets, armored vehicles, air defense, drones, etc.
“The only question is whether we will still come together to get a comprehensive overview from Ukraine to coordinate our assistance. And I really believe that the contact group on the defense of Ukraine should continue its work. In what format? We will probably see in the coming months,” said the Estonian minister.
At the same time, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius emphasized the importance of preserving the Rammstein format.
“Ukraine must be able to negotiate and act from a position of strength. For this, she needs our support, and she can count on Germany, and for this she will continue to need the Rammstein format,” Pistorius said at the end of the meeting.
On January 9, after a long break, the 25th meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine was held in Germany at the Ramstein Air Base. During the meeting, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced an aid package worth about 500 million dollars.
Rammstein’s future is uncertain as US President-elect Donald Trump has not said whether he will continue to lead the US group after his inauguration on January 20.
Two months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin invited his colleagues from allied countries for the first time to Ramstein – the main US air base in Europe in Germany. The first meeting took place on April 26, 2022. In this format, the Allies discussed and coordinated military assistance to Kyiv.