US defence secretary skips key Ukraine summit, reflecting shift in priorities

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth will not attend the upcoming gathering of 50 countries to coordinate military support for Ukraine, marking the first time the coalition will meet without the presence of a US defense secretary.

The meeting, scheduled for April 11 in Brussels, will be chaired by Germany and the United Kingdom, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Hegseth, who attended the last meeting in February, will not be present either in person or virtually. The Pentagon is unlikely to send any senior representatives typically accompanying the secretary on such trips.

The US is still evaluating how its officials will participate in forums supporting Ukraine, including those related to security assistance and training.

For European officials, Hegseth's absence is seen as a reflection of the Trump administration's diminishing focus on providing military support to Ukraine. This sentiment was clearly expressed by Hegseth himself at the last meeting in February, where he urged European allies to take more responsibility for their defence. “President [Donald] Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker,” Hegseth said, referencing a quote from former president Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Hegseth's predecessor, Lloyd Austin, was instrumental in founding the Ukraine Defence Contact Group shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The group has since helped raise and coordinate more than $126 billion in security aid to Ukraine, with around half of that coming from the US Austin had only missed one in-person meeting, in early 2024, when he was recovering from complications related to cancer treatment. Instead of attending, he called into the summit, and Celeste Wallander, a senior Pentagon policy official, led the session.

With Hegseth's absence, European officials are preparing for alternative formats for future meetings. Wallander, who had been part of early discussions on the group's formation, indicated that Germany and the UK were expected to take the lead, representing Europe's economic power and military capability.

Despite the shift, Wallander acknowledged the potential costs of US absence from leadership. "Without them, the group would lack key US intelligence," she said, which has traditionally been provided by US officials, alongside military counterparts from US European Command. This lack of intelligence could hinder the group's ability to respond to Ukraine's battlefield needs effectively.

As the Pentagon’s $3.85 billion in authority for military equipment shipments to Ukraine nears exhaustion, the US Congress has signaled there are no immediate plans to approve additional funding, adding further uncertainty to future support for Ukraine.

By Vafa Guliyeva