For the first time since the Ukraine Defence Contact Group’s inception in 2022, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth will skip its Brussels meeting on Wednesday, neither attending in person nor joining via video link, according to AP News.
A US official confirmed Hegseth’s absence, noting he will arrive in Brussels only after the session concludes. The move marks the latest step in Washington’s deliberate distancing from Ukraine’s war effort under the Trump administration, which has announced no new military aid since taking office and transferred the group’s leadership to Germany and the UK.
The timing amplifies French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent warning that abandoning Ukraine to prioritise a potential China-Taiwan conflict creates a “dangerous double standard.” Macron cautioned that such a shift would “eventually erode US credibility” in deterring China. NATO allies also fear the Pentagon may withdraw troops from Europe for redeployment in the Indo-Pacific.
Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, established the contact group, which has coordinated $126 billion in military aid (including $66.5 billion from the US) from over 50 nations. Under Austin, the US chaired meetings monthly, with consistent high-level participation.
Concurrently, a senior Ukrainian delegation led by Presidential Office Head Andriy Yermak and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko is in Washington urgently seeking defence assistance and sanctions enforcement. They met US Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg on Tuesday, discussing battlefield conditions and recent peace talks with Russia.
Yermak and Svyrydenko are scheduled to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, where they will also address a bilateral minerals deal granting the US preferential access to Ukrainian resources. This agreement, framed partially as postwar reconstruction financing, symbolises Kyiv’s attempts to offer tangible returns for sustained support.
Hegseth’s absence reinforces his February stance urging Ukraine to abandon NATO membership and territorial reclamation ambitions while pushing Europe to assume primary financial responsibility for Kyiv’s defence. Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of US European Command, will represent Washington at the contact group, a procedural presence lacking Hegseth’s authority.
