U.S. officials confirmed today that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group summit that was scheduled for Oct. 12 has been postponed in the wake of the cancellation, announced yesterday, of President Biden’s trip to Germany. Biden had announced the meeting on Sept. 26 “to coordinate the efforts of the more than 50 countries supporting Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression.”
“The Oct. 12, 2024 event is postponed,” the U.S. public affairs office at Ramstein Air Base said in an email to journalists, reported Reuters. “Announcements about future Ukraine Defense Contact Group meetings will be forthcoming.”
Also canceled were bilateral meetings that Biden was to have held in Berlin the morning before the Ramstein meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, reported Politico. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also set to present his so-called Victory Plan at Ramstein later in the day with the hope of securing further military support, especially U.S. agreement to launching long-range missiles from Ukraine deep into Russian territory.
As for when the meeting might be rescheduled, there’s a NATO defense ministers meeting scheduled in Brussels on Oct. 17-18 around which the Ramstein could take place, but Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said yesterday that talks were ongoing about that.
