The Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine meets this Friday at the US airbase in Ramstein (Germany) with attention focused on a possible supply of long-range weapons to Kiev, an issue that still generates divisions between the allies.
This meeting, on the 11th, marks the first anniversary of this group created and led by the United States, which currently includes around 50 countries.
On the eve of the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who will also be present in Ramstein, paid his first visit to kyiv since the start of the war.
In Stoltenberg’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev on Thursday, the supply of long-range weapons dominated part of the conversation, with the Atlantic Alliance leader vowing to take up the matter at today’s meeting in Ramstein.
Stoltenberg reminded Zelensky that the 50 or so countries involved in the Contact Group are not all convinced of the imminence of delivering long-range weapons to Kiev, just as they remain unwilling to hand over fighter jets to the Ukrainian military, even if it is solely to protect Ukrainian cities from air raids commanded by Moscow.
Zelensky instructed the Ukrainian team that will participate in the Contact Group meeting to explain the needs of the Ukrainian army in the face of “the preparation of the next important steps”, words that were interpreted by analysts as a reference to the eventual and future time trial of Kiev. -offensive against Russian forces.
Throughout this week, the Ukrainian press reported that President Zelensky held several meetings with military commanders to gather precise information to transmit to the Ukrainian delegation that will be present today at the US airbase in Ramstein, where several defense ministers will also be present. of countries. present involved in helping kyiv, including the Portuguese minister, Helena Carreiras.
“I have been directly involved in several preparatory meetings of the Contact Group. We expect solid decisions that meet our needs on the ground,” Zelensky said, quoted by the online edition of the Odessa Journal.
Along with long-range weapons, this new Ramstein meeting will once again discuss the issue of sending state-of-the-art combat aircraft, with the Ukrainian delegation insisting on the creation of a “combat aircraft coalition”, which would like to include to the United States.
The intent and the expression “coalition of fighter jets” were echoed last week by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal when he met US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington at the Pentagon.
On that occasion, Lloyd Austin, who will chair the Contact Group meeting, told the Ukrainian Prime Minister that the matter would be discussed again in Ramstein.
The so-called “Ukrainian Defense Contact Group” (original name in English) was created in April 2022 at the Ramstein base, with the participation of defense ministers from more than 40 countries, including Portugal.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: TSF
