Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Thursday told allies and partners in Germany that it would be “crazy to drop the ball now” and end support for Ukraine against Russia.
“It's clear that a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world just 11 days from now,” Zelenskyy told the Ukraine Defense Contact Group during opening remarks in Ramstein Germany, referring to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration as president.
“We have to cooperate even more, rely on one another even more and achieve even greater results together,” he said. "No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”
As Ukrainians fight continuing Russian assaults, international support for their fight is uncertain. Trump has not indicated whether he will continue America's leadership of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group when President Joe Biden leaves office January 20.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the group of about 50 nations has provided Kyiv with more than $126 billion in weapons, training and equipment. The U.S. has provided about $66 billion, slightly more than half of the group's aid.
That U.S. aid includes a $500 million package unveiled Thursday by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, consisting of additional missiles for Ukrainian air defense, more artillery ammunition, more air-to-ground munitions and equipment to support Ukraine's F-16 fighter jets — all coming from U.S. stockpiles in the hope they can be delivered by the end of the month.
“This coalition has become the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy,” Austin told reporters following Thursday’s meetings. “It has become an engine of global security … the most consequential global coalition in more than 30 years.”
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group, he added, “has helped turn Ukraine’s struggle into one of the great military success stories of our time.”
But not all of the security assistance allocated by the U.S. for Ukraine is guaranteed to reach Kyiv.
U.S. officials have said about $3.8 billion remains untapped, leaving it up to the incoming Trump administration to decide whether and how to use it.
And while several coalitions within the Ukraine Defense Contact Group have pledged to continue supporting Ukraine’s long-term security needs through at least 2027, member countries are grappling with what to expect from the Trump administration.
“We think about options and alternatives,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters. “But the best solution would, in any case, be to continue the format as it used to be with the leadership of the United States of America.”
Some U.S. allies have been shaken by Trump’s recent threats to take Greenland from NATO ally Denmark by force. Pistorius Thursday downplayed the comments.
“I'm quite optimistic that remarks like that won't really, and I hope so, won't really influence U.S. politics after the 20th of January,” the German defense minister said, though he added Trump’s threats were “diplomatically astonishing.”
“I don't know what his objectives are to do that,” Pistorius said.
Austin, Thursday, declined to answer questions about Trump’s Greenland comments, saying only, “that is a decision that’s for the next administration to make.”
The U.S. defense chief emphasized, however, the importance of the U.S.-led coalition backing Ukraine, saying the impact goes far beyond the current conflict and that coalition members “must not flinch.”
“Every autocrat on earth is watching to see whether Putin gets away with it,” Austin told reporters. “No responsible leader would let Putin have his way.”
“If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,” Austin warned. “If autocrats conclude that democracies will lose their nerve, surrender their interests and forget their principles, we will only see more land grabs. If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos and war.”
Some defense analysts have likewise warned that failing to continue coordinated support for Ukraine could prove catastrophic.
Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Trump, who has been very critical of the Biden administration's handling of Afghanistan, would not want to see a similar crisis "on his record."
"If you have a major curtailment or end of U.S. support for Ukraine, then you could have a major disaster in Ukraine," he told VOA.
Rather than cut Kyiv's lifeline, Bowman said, the U.S. should surge support to Ukraine in the first months of the new administration "to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position" ahead of any peace negotiations.
While analysts point to the Ukraine Defense Contact Group as a high point of Austin's legacy, funding delays from Congress and deliberations within the Biden administration on what weapons to give Kyiv have hampered Ukraine's fight.
Bowman said that too often, when Ukraine asked for something, the Biden administration told them no and then maybe before finally saying yes.
"During that time period, we saw Russians advancing, Ukrainians dying and the delay being costly," he said.
Officials said the administration hopes the latest aid package, along with other commitments from the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, could put Kyiv in a stronger negotiating position. They also told reporters that at least 80% of the American weapons and equipment promised to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles would reach Ukraine before Biden leaves office. One notable exception, a senior defense official said, is a group of military vehicles that are still being refurbished for use on the battlefield.
