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Today, April 26, is the 21st meeting of representatives of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine (Ramstein format). It is noteworthy that on this day two years ago – April 26, 2022 – the first meeting of this group took place; it was held at the American Ramstein airbase, after which these meetings received their second name, FREEDOM reports.
“Ramstein-21” is taking place online, and representatives of military departments from 50 countries are present.
Additional air defense systems for Ukraine became a key priority of the meeting. As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the day before, the participants will discuss how to overcome the difficulties and problems that have accumulated over the past six months while Kyiv was waiting for help from the United States. It is necessary to resolve logistics issues, as well as filling support packages with the necessary weapons.
“Ramstein 21” was opened by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He stated that special attention will be paid not only to the protection of the Ukrainian sky, but also to the search for additional artillery and armored vehicles for the Ukrainian army. Austin noted that many things have happened since the first meeting. These include the battles for Kyiv, the liberation of parts of the Kharkiv and Kherson regions, the pushing back of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the resumption of grain exports, and so on. Almost the whole world was able to be inspired by such courage of Ukrainians, and further support for Kyiv will not only be maintained, but also increase, he added.
“Ukraine critically needs more air defense systems, and urgently needs more interceptor missiles. Ukraine’s struggle for freedom matters to all of us. If Ukraine fell under the boot of Putin’s troops, Europe would find itself in Putin’s shadow. Therefore, we remain committed to deterring Russia from any further aggression, including aggression against our NATO allies,” the US Secretary of Defense said.
They plan to improve the format for providing assistance to Kyiv. According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, now the allies will not help each individually, but will join a specific coalition in which they will be able to prove themselves more. Let us recall that since last year, 8 alliances have been created: aviation capabilities, air and missile defense, drone coalition and others. Allies include dozens of NATO countries, which Japan and Australia may join. The defense department noted that the Coalition Support Office was specially created to promote such initiatives.
“The task of the Support Office is to ensure coordination and planning of work within coalitions of capabilities, ensuring interaction between coalitions, as well as analyzing the state of communications with partner countries,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
