Brussels, 4 June 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Defence ministers from the Ukraine Defence Contact Group meet on Wednesday in Brussels to coordinate and raise further military support for Kiev.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is expected to brief his country's allies on the situation on the battlefield and Ukraine's most pressing needs.

The talks, once led by the United States, are to be chaired by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and UK Defence Secretary John Healey.

The two politicians are stepping in for former US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, who had initiated the format also dubbed Ramstein Group, comprising around 50 countries, before the change of government in Washington.

The new US administration under President Donald Trump has decided to no longer lead the talks. Instead, it aims to push Kiev and Moscow towards reaching a ceasefire agreement as quickly as possible. Other countries fear that such an agreement could come at Ukraine's expense.

Ukraine has been defending itself from a full-scale Russian attack for more than three years, with the help of Western aid.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is also scheduled to give a press conference ahead of a meeting by the alliance's defence ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday.

Photo: MIA archive