Oleksii Reznikov: Another Step Taken in Ramstein Format to Strengthen Ukraine’s Defence

The fourth meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group has taken place. This platform in support of Ukraine, known as the Ramstein format, was established thanks to US leadership and now unites 50 countries from all continents except for Antarctica.

“As agreed with colleagues, we hold the intrigue regarding a lion’s share of existing and upcoming aid packages. These include weapons and ammo, training of our soldiers, and more. At first, the enemy will feel this aid on the battlefield. A positive signal from the meeting is new obligations of the partners concerning land, sea, and sky,” Oleksii Reznikov, Minister of Defence of Ukraine, noted.

In particular, the next aid package from the US to be announced this week includes inter alia four M142 HIMARS systems that already have had an impact on the course of the war.

“I would like to note that the American partners, as well as colleagues from other countries, expressed their admiration for the skill of our soldiers, including the way they use artillery and HIMARS systems,” Reznikov said.

Among other things, the meeting’s participants were presented with an overview of the results on the battlefield, namely the losses of Russian invaders in manpower, equipment, and military capabilities as a whole. These impressive numbers prove that Ukraine is indeed the shield of Europe. It is important that this overview was prepared specifically by the partners based on their data and evaluations.

In his speech, Reznikov pointed out the following priorities for Ukraine:

• Strengthening the mission-oriented approach. We ask colleagues to concentrate their efforts on increasing the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to carry out certain missions. One of them is unblocking our ports and ensuring safety in the western part of the Black Sea. Everyone saw the first results in the form of liberating Snake Island. The work continues. New “gestures of goodwill” from the invaders are possible.
• Systematising maintenance and repair of foreign equipment supplied to us. It is a large-scale task, and we are already talking about hundreds of units. We need coordination of many countries in the legal, financial and organisational sphere as well as at the level of production capacities.
• Increasing our efforts to ensure transparency in registering and using international military aid. In particular, the implementation process of the NATO LOGFAS program will be accelerated.

Reznikov also highlighted three points he heard from colleagues:

• First, many countries directly stated that there was no fatigue from the war in Ukraine and that no such thing would happen in the future. There is an understanding that the security of the whole of Europe is at stake, not just Ukraine. The whole world sees how our defenders hold the front line over 2,500 km long. It is like the distance between Warsaw and Barcelona. The perception of Ukraine as a shield of Europe in the east is getting clearer. Generally, there is the common position of Ramstein members to support Ukraine until its victory.
• Second, it was emphasised that time is of the essence. This thesis is already on the agenda of those who support us. We are doing everything to put it into practice.
• Third, a lot of partners are ready to train our soldiers. It is an opportunity to get high-quality reserves that will master western weaponry behind front lines. Also, this will set the stage for increasing the amount of support.

Natalia Tolub