When navy leaders from roughly 50 nations met in Brussels on Friday to debate help shipments to Kyiv, one was noticeably absent: Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth.
As an alternative of attending the gathering, the twenty seventh assembly of the Ukraine Protection Contact Group, in particular person, Mr. Hegseth dialed in and took part nearly.
It was the primary time for the reason that group’s creation three years in the past that the Pentagon’s high civilian was not bodily current for an in-person assembly of the group, because the Trump administration treats Ukraine much less like a companion and moves closer to Russia.
President Trump promised on the campaign trail to settle the struggle between Russia and Ukraine even earlier than he was sworn in, and stated that he might do it inside 24 hours. However cease-fire negotiations with Washington, Kyiv and Moscow have failed to yield an finish to combating that has led to the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Ukrainian and 150,000 Russian troopers.
U.S. management of the contact group had supplied a lifeline of arms and matériel for Ukraine’s armed forces, however the stream of products has largely petered out since Mr. Trump’s second inauguration.
Ukraine particularly needs air-defense munitions, such because the Patriot missiles the US beforehand shipped. That was introduced into sharp focus final week when a Russian missile assault in central Ukraine struck near a playground, killing 19 civilians, together with 9 kids.
Mr. Hegseth handed management of the contact group to Britain earlier than its last meeting, held in February. John Healey, Britain’s protection secretary and now the group’s chairman, led the assembly on Friday with Boris Pistorius, Germany’s protection minister.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, stated in an announcement that the officers mentioned “progress in the direction of reaching an everlasting peace to the struggle in Ukraine and European nations main efforts to help Ukraine’s protection.”
At a information convention after the assembly, Mr. Healey and Mr. Pistorius flanked their Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, and spoke positively however delicately about the US’ dedication to supporting Ukraine.
“He took half, he addressed the auditorium with some, I’d say, attention-grabbing and proper assessments,” Mr. Pistorius stated of Mr. Hegseth. “Sooner or later, within the weeks to come back, we’ll see what’s going to occur with the U.S. participation, with the U.S. help.”
“I’m not ready to take a look within the crystal ball,” Mr. Pistorius added. “We wait and see.”
In response to a reporter’s query about Mr. Trump’s priorities in sending an envoy to Moscow however not sending Mr. Hegseth to the contact group assembly, Mr. Umerov sidestepped the difficulty.
“U.S. has informed us after the brand new administration stepped in that they are going to be beside Europe, beside Ukraine, however their focus will probably be in Asia-Pacific or within the Pacific,” Mr. Umerov stated. “They’re nonetheless collaborating in U.D.C.G. They’re offering us safety help, they usually took a lead in a peace initiative, which they’re targeted.”
Mr. Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd J. Austin III, stated goodbye to the group in January throughout its twenty fifth assembly, which was held at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. He had spent years providing military advice to the group based mostly on his a long time of fight management, which included a number of command excursions as a common in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The coalition to help Ukraine should not flinch,” Mr. Austin stated in his closing remarks on the summit. “It should not falter. And it should not fail. Ukraine’s survival is on the road. However so is all of our safety.”
Mr. Austin created the group simply two months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and it became a potent tool for supporting Kyiv.
On the gathering in January, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine implored the group to “not drop the ball now” when it got here to supporting his nation within the type of weapons and other forms of navy {hardware}.
The Biden administration authorised 74 packages of navy help for Ukraine drawn from the Pentagon’s stockpile and value greater than $34 billion. Ukraine obtained roughly the identical quantity of U.S. funding to buy navy {hardware} instantly from American protection corporations.
The Trump administration has not introduced any new help for Ukraine since Inauguration Day, regardless that roughly $3.85 billion stays untapped, in keeping with the Pentagon.
The shortage of recent navy help is just not the one means the Trump administration has frozen Ukraine out.
In line with Pentagon statements, Mr. Hegseth has spoken privately or met with leaders from 16 nations since taking office. He spoke briefly with Ukrainian officers on the contact group’s January assembly, however is just not in any other case identified to have spoken or met with any representatives from the federal government or navy in Kyiv.
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