U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discusses American military support during the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting Sept. 19, 2023, at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Austin on Tuesday will discuss further military support for Ukraine with allies in Europe, marking his first trip abroad since undergoing surgery for prostate cancer in December. (Alexander Riedel/Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be at Ramstein Air Base on Tuesday to discuss further military support for Ukraine with allies in Europe, his first trip abroad since he underwent surgery for prostate cancer in December.
Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown will participate in the latest meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the Pentagon said in a statement Thursday.
The group consists of nearly 50 countries that have banded together to provide military assistance to Ukrainian troops, who have been battling Russia’s invasion since February 2022.
Austin and Brown will join defense ministers and senior military officials from counterparts in the contact group. The U.S. alone has provided roughly $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine during the war.
“The United States and this coalition continue to stand with the people of Ukraine,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Thursday when describing Austin’s travel plans. “We will not let Ukraine fail in its war to defend themselves against Russian aggression.”
The meeting comes at a pivotal time, as Russian troops are advancing on the battlefield, Ukraine is running out of ammunition and permanent U.S. military aid to the beleaguered country remains stalled in Congress.
On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg repeated a call for allies to show “political will” and continue supporting Kyiv.
“We have the capacity to give Ukraine what it needs,” Stoltenberg said in Brussels while presenting the alliance’s annual report. “The Ukrainians are not running out of courage. They are running out of ammunition.”
Austin’s visit to Germany comes days after the Defense Department and the White House announced a new round of security assistance for Ukraine worth up to $300 million.
The package includes Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, 155 mm artillery rounds, 105 mm artillery rounds and AT-4 anti-armor systems.
It was made possible through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the president to send military supplies and services from the Defense Department to foreign countries in emergency situations.
The latest round of drawdown authority aid is the first this year and was achieved after the Army negotiated a lower price for replacing supplies already in Ukraine, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The assistance “provides a short-term stopgap, but it is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs,” the Pentagon said.
Austin failed to disclose his prostate cancer surgery in December and a subsequent hospitalization in January to deal with complications. That sparked a barrage of criticism, including calls for his resignation.
In February, Austin was hospitalized again for a bladder issue, which forced him to cancel a trip to Brussels for the previous meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, at which some members agreed to deliver 1 million drones to Ukraine.
Tuesday’s meeting will be the 20th of the group, which first met in April 2022.
