Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the upcoming meeting of the Contact Group on Defense in the ‘Ramstein’ format will discuss important topics such as air defense, Patriot systems, new defense packages, and the establishment of production facilities for weapon manufacturing in Ukraine.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Zelensky noted that the participants in the format will consider the issue of a ‘coalition of the willing’ on Thursday, which involves the presence of a peacekeeping contingent on Ukrainian territory. “On Friday, there will be discussions on the Patriot issue, air defense, additional defense packages, as well as the matter of uniting countries that are willing to open factories or production lines for various weapons in Ukraine,” he emphasized during a joint press conference with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever in Kyiv.
Expectations from the Meeting
The meeting in Brussels will be led by Germany and the United Kingdom. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will not participate in the meeting. Zelensky confirmed that the U.S. is likely to be absent from the meeting, but expressed hope that “we have things to discuss with the Americans and we believe they will change their position.”
Previous Achievements
Earlier, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the next meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine’s Defense in the ‘Ramstein’ format will take place on April 11. He noted that British Defense Secretary John Healey will chair this meeting to “provide more military assistance and support Ukraine in its struggle.” The previous meeting took place on February 12 – it was the first ‘Ramstein’ format meeting chaired by the United Kingdom with the participation of the new U.S. Secretary of Defense.