US steps aside from coordinating support to Ukraine - Lithuanian FM

VILNIUS - Washington has stepped aside from the coordination of support to Kyiv, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys says after the United States handed over the leadership of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group to the UK and Germany.

"The US has stepped aside from the coordination of assistance to Ukraine, it has stepped aside from the process and handed it over to other countries," Lithuania's top diplomat told the public radio LRT on Wednesday.

"I think that direction will remain the same and we will focus on ways to pool more specific military support for Ukraine. The absence of the US will have an impact as that leadership will have to be covered, just as that uncertainty about future military support from the US remains amid the ceasefire negotiations," he said.

According to Budrys, this situation puts more responsibility on the European Union to support Ukraine.

"We will continue our support regardless of what is going on around us. We have said that many times and we plan to continue our support after peace is achieved, when it is achieved one day," the minister said.

"In our view, a strong Ukrainian army will be the strongest and most effective deterrent to Russia to prevent it from repeating its aggression against Ukraine or any other country"," he added.

As BNS reported earlier, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will attend the Ramstein-format meeting later this week via videolink.

These regular meetings were started by Hegseth's predecessor, Lloyd Austin, after Russia launched a large-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. However, Washington has reduced its role in the meetings since US President Donald Trump took office in January as he criticizes aid to Ukraine.

In February, the UK chaired the group's meeting for the first time and London will do so again.

The United States provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine after Russia invaded Ukraine more than three years ago, but no new aid package for Kyiv has been announced since Trump began his second term in office.