As Biden exits, European allies huddle on joint drills, Ukraine aid

WARSAW, Poland — The leaders of five key European NATO members envision joint military drills in 2026, while advancing their defense industries’ cooperation with Ukraine, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced today.

The European defense boost – spearheaded by Poland, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, collectively dubbed the E5 – comes in anticipation of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Analysts expect Trump to pursue a less pronounced trans-Atlantic agenda than the outgoing president, Joe Biden.

Defense ministers of the five-nation group met here today, with their Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, participating via teleconference.

The talk of joint military exercises among Europeans suggests the countries are envisioning some drills without logistics and command-and-control support often provided for such events by the most powerful NATO member, the United States.

“E5 is a format which complements our relations within NATO and the EU. We are here today to coordinate our actions for defense, but also to coordinate our support to Ukraine,” Kosiniak-Kamysz was quoted in a statement released by his ministry. “I think that, in 2026, joint drills, of course with the alliance’s major role, because nothing will take place without it, will take place.”

The previous meeting took place in Germany’s capital Berlin on Nov. 25, 2024. The E5 nations are to further discuss their training plans at the next event which is to be held in Paris, the Polish official said.

“We must take on more responsibilities, sharing concrete vision and commitments, both in the strictly military field and in the industrial and technological sector of defense,” Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto commented in a statement released by his ministry.

In his remarks, Kosiniak-Kamysz suggested the five nations will throw their weight behind ongoing efforts to keep the international Ukraine Defense Contact Group running after Trump assumes the U.S. presidency.

“In our talks with the Ukrainian Minister of Defense … we discussed the topic of support, but also the issues of developing the [defense] production capacities between Europe and Ukraine,” the Polish minister said.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the UDCG — a gathering of 50 countries supporting Kyiv — has convened 25 times.

Following the Ramstein meeting held just four days before the E5 event in Warsaw, Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said while he does not want to speculate on the new U.S. administration’s policies, “the best solution would, in any case, be to continue the format.”

At the same time, the involved allies “think about options and alternatives,” Pistorius said.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——波兰副总理兼国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什今天宣布，五个主要的欧洲北约成员国的领导人设想在2026年举行联合军事演习，同时推进其国防工业与乌克兰的合作。

由波兰、法国、德国、意大利和英国（统称“E5”）牵头的欧洲防务加强计划，是为了迎接当选总统唐纳德·特朗普于1月20日就职。分析人士预计，特朗普推行的跨大西洋议程将不如即将卸任的总统乔·拜登那样突出。

五国国防部长今天在此举行会议，乌克兰国防部长鲁斯捷姆·乌梅罗夫通过电话会议参加了会议。

欧洲各国谈论联合军事演习，表明这些国家正在设想进行一些没有后勤和指挥控制支持的演习，而这些支持通常是由北约最强大的成员国美国提供的。

科西尼亚克-卡梅什在其国防部发布的一份声明中表示：“E5机制是对我们北约和欧盟内部关系的补充。我们今天齐聚一堂，不仅是为了协调我们的防务行动，也是为了协调我们对乌克兰的支持。我认为，2026年将会举行联合演习，当然，联盟将发挥重要作用，因为没有联盟的参与，任何事情都无法进行。”

上次会议于2024年11月25日在德国首都柏林举行。波兰官员表示，E5国家将在下次于巴黎举行的会议上进一步讨论他们的训练计划。

意大利国防部长圭多·克罗塞托在其部门发布的一份声明中评论道：“我们必须承担更多责任，分享具体的愿景和承诺，无论是在严格的军事领域，还是在国防的工业和技术领域。”

科西尼亚克-卡梅什在讲话中表示，这五个国家将全力支持特朗普就任美国总统后，继续努力维持国际乌克兰防务联络小组的运作。

波兰部长表示：“在与乌克兰国防部长的会谈中……我们讨论了支持问题，也讨论了发展欧洲和乌克兰之间（国防）生产能力的问题。”

自俄罗斯于 2022 年 2 月入侵乌克兰以来，支持基辅的 50 个国家组成的乌克兰民主联盟 (UDCG) 已召开了 25 次会议。

在华沙E5峰会召开前四天举行的拉姆施泰因会议之后，德国国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托里乌斯表示，虽然他不想对美国新政府的政策进行猜测，“但无论如何，最好的解决办法是继续沿用这种形式。”

皮斯托瑞斯表示，与此同时，相关盟友也在“考虑各种方案和替代方案”。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。