European countries are continuing and increasing support for Ukraine, as the U.S. taxpayer will have a reduced role in funding military aid to the besieged nation.
European countries are involved in a plan outlined by the Trump administration this month to purchase weapons from the United States that will ultimately go to Ukraine, the details of which are still being hammered out. President Donald Trump’s plan allows Ukraine to receive the military equipment it desperately needs, particularly air defense systems, but also reduces the burden on the American people by having Ukraine’s European allies pay for the systems.
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The talks will continue on Monday when the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which consists of defense leaders from roughly 50 countries, will meet virtually.
U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius are set to oversee the meeting. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will also attend, a U.S. defense official told the Washington Examiner.
Pistorius met with Hegseth at the Pentagon last week.
The United Kingdom and Germany will announce on Monday a new deal between them designed to help Ukraine. Germany will provide the U.K. with $228 million to rapidly procure air defense ammunition from the U.K.-led International Fund for Ukraine for delivery in the coming months.
England has spent $939 million this year to purchase hundreds of air defense missiles and thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition. Roughly $200 million of that aid has already been delivered to Ukraine. The U.K. recently delivered nearly 50,000 drones to the embattled country in under six months, while a U.K.-Latvia co-led drone coalition provided an additional 20,000 drones during that same period.
“Last week, President Trump announced a new plan for large scale NATO weapons transfers and committed to getting these ‘quickly distributed to the battlefield,'” Healey is expected to say during his opening remarks, according to the ministry. “The U.K. government backs this policy, and we will play our full part in its success to bolster Ukraine’s immediate fight and to support our own and wider European security.”
U.S. officials recently informed the Swiss government that the five Patriot systems it ordered in 2022, set to be delivered between 2026 and 2028, would be diverted.
The Swiss Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection, and Sport said it would receive the Patriot systems “later than planned,” though it’s “currently unclear how many systems will be affected.”
These Patriot systems will go to Germany instead to backfill the systems it sends to Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to the UDGC meeting, a separate meeting on Wednesday will be held with countries that own Patriot systems. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commander of U.S. European Command, will oversee that event.
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“Capabilities that are in Europe can be moved more quickly than something coming off the production line, but the production line can then be used to backfill the capabilities that others donate,” Grynkewich said at a conference in Germany last week. “So I don’t have a good sense of what the numbers will be, but I know that my guidance is to get the Ukrainians what they need to defend themselves. So there’ll be a lot more to follow. We’re going to move as quickly as we can on this.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Canada want to be involved in this effort.