Hegseth opts for virtual attendance at Ukraine defense group meeting

PANAMA CITY — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will call into the next gathering of countries meeting to support Ukraine’s self-defense, days after some U.S. and European officials were doubting that he would attend at all , according to a U.S. and a European defense official.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is a summit of 50 countries that have met for the last three years to coordinate military aid for Kyiv.

Lloyd Austin, Hegseth’s predecessor, founded the group shortly after Russia’s 2022 invasion and chaired 25 meetings during the Biden administration. Since then, it’s raised more than $126 billion in security aid for Ukraine, around half of which has come from America.

Hegseth, like the Trump administration as a whole, has made arming Ukraine a lower priority while in office. He went to the group’s last meeting in February, but allowed Britain to chair it, the first time a U.S. secretary ceded that role.

While there, he urged Europe to take control of its own self-defense while previewing a less active role for America in protecting the continent.

The upcoming meeting will occur Friday in Brussels, chaired by Britain and Germany. European and American officials wondered whether Hegseth would join in the weeks prior, with some last week indicating he might skip it.

Even joining via teleconference is better than passing altogether, multiple European officials said. Still, they would have preferred him to attend in person and broadly remain unsure of America’s commitment to supporting Ukraine and European defense as a whole.

Gen. Christopher Cavoli, the head of European Command, will join the summit in person, though he will do so in his NATO role as Supreme Allied Commander Europe. Gen Curtis Buzzard, the head of a separate security assistance group for Ukraine, will also attend.

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

巴拿马城——据一位美国和一位欧洲国防官员透露，美国国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯将出席下一次支持乌克兰自卫的国家会议。此前几天，一些美国和欧洲官员还怀疑他是否会出席。

乌克兰防务联络小组是由 50 个国家组成的峰会，过去三年里，该小组一直在举行会议，协调对基辅的军事援助。

赫格塞斯的前任劳埃德·奥斯汀在俄罗斯2022年入侵乌克兰后不久创立了该组织，并在拜登执政期间主持了25次会议。自那时以来，该组织已为乌克兰筹集了超过1260亿美元的安全援助，其中约一半来自美国。

与特朗普政府整体一样，赫格塞斯在任期间已将武装乌克兰列为次要事项。他出席了2月份举行的该组织上次会议，但允许英国担任主席国，这是美国国务卿首次放弃这一角色。

在那里，他敦促欧洲掌握自己的自卫权，同时预示着美国在保护欧洲大陆方面将扮演不那么积极的角色。

即将举行的会议将于周五在布鲁塞尔举行，由英国和德国共同主持。此前几周，欧美官员一直在猜测赫格塞斯是否会出席，上周一些官员甚至暗示他可能会缺席。

多位欧洲官员表示，即使通过电话会议参加也比完全缺席要好。不过，他们更希望他能亲自出席，并且普遍对美国支持乌克兰和整个欧洲防务的承诺持怀疑态度。

欧洲司令部司令克里斯托弗·卡沃利将军将亲自出席峰会，但他将以北约欧洲盟军最高司令的身份出席。负责乌克兰安全援助的另一小组负责人柯蒂斯·巴扎德将军也将出席。

诺亚·罗伯逊是《防务新闻》的五角大楼记者。他此前曾为《基督教科学箴言报》报道国家安全新闻。他拥有弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉与玛丽学院的英语和政治学学士学位。