The Pentagon announced yesterday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will be departing on Feb. 10 for a ten-day trip to Europe, with stops in Germany, Belgium, and Poland. His first stop will be in Germany, where he will visit U.S. European Command (USEUCOM) and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) headquarters to meet with senior military leaders and receive updates on operations in both theaters. Then he will go to Brussels for the the NATO Defense Ministerial and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting. “At the UDCG, the first to be chaired by the United Kingdom, the Secretary will reiterate President Trump’s commitment for a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible,” the Pentagon statement reports. “He will also highlight the need for increased European leadership on security assistance to Ukraine.”
But the British, who will be chairing the UDCG, have a different agenda. The meeting is aimed at discussing “priorities for Ukraine as the international community continues to work together to support Ukraine in its fight against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s illegal invasion,” the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement released on Feb. 6, AP reported.
