WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th July, 2022) US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov followed up on discussions about security assistance to Ukraine, including on the latest developments on the battleground, acting Defense Department spokesperson Todd Breasseale said in a press release.
"Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov to discuss the Ukraine Defense Contact Group to be held virtually with allies and partners on July 20," the release said on Monday. "The leaders exchanged perspectives on security assistance to Ukraine and pledged to remain in close coordination."
Reznikov also briefed Austin on the situation on the ground in Ukraine amid Russia's special military operation there, the release said.
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group most recently met on June 15 in Brussels on the sidelines of the NATO ministerial meeting. Defense representatives from about 50 US-allied nations joined the meeting.
The inaugural talks in this format took place in April at the US air base Ramstein in Germany. Austin later said that similar high-level meetings would be held each month.
On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The United States and its allies have since imposed comprehensive sanctions on Russia and supplied offensive and defensive weapons to Ukraine worth multiple billions of Dollars.
