The participation of US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) in the Ramstein format in Brussels on 11 April (via video link) indicates that the United States continues to provide security assistance to Ukraine.

Source:Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umierov at a press conference following the meeting, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Umierov emphasised that Hegseth joining the Contact Group meeting in the Ramstein format showed that the United States was not abandoning its support for Ukraine.

"We also have our colleague from the US participating in the UDCG which means that the US is continuing its security assistance," Umierov said.

"The US is our prime partner for both Ukraine and continental Europe or Europe as a whole," he added.

Umierov stated that "the US has told us, after the new administration has stepped in, that they will be beside Europe, beside Ukraine, but their focus will be in Asia-Pacific or in the Pacific."

Quote: "They [the US] are still participating in UDCG. They are providing us security assistance and they took a lead in a peace initiative, which they are focused. Ukraine has supported President Trump's peace initiative and participated in several occasions where the US team has got all 100% of support from the Ukrainian team." 

Background:

• Earlier, the media reported that Hegseth would not attend the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group on 11 April.
• A meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in the Ramstein format is being held in Brussels on 11 April, co-chaired by the United Kingdom and Germany.
• The previous meeting – the first since the change in the US administration – was also held in Brussels on 12 February and chaired by the UK.
• At that meeting, Hegseth claimed that restoring Ukraine's borders to their pre-2014 lines was not a realistic goal. He also said the United States did not see Ukraine's NATO membership as a likely outcome of a peaceful resolution to the war.
• Under the Joe Biden administration, previous Ramstein meetings were chaired by the United States.

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