Good morning everyone . It's great to
be here with you all for our fifth
meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact
group . Thank you all for being here
today and let me especially thank my
friends and colleagues . Ukrainian
Minister of Defense , Olexiy Reznikoff
and Deputy Chief of Defense Lieutenant
General moisture . Ukrainian Ukrainian
armed forces have inspired the world
with their determination to defend
their democracy . And you my friend ,
have inspired everyone in this contact
group with your resilience and courage .
So thanks again for being here with us
in person today . Today we're back at
Ramstein where this contact group was
founded and we're here to renew our
commitment and intensify our momentum
to support the brave defenders of
Ukraine for the long term . Now our
group first came together four months
ago at a turning point in Russia's
reckless and ruthless war of choice
against Ukraine . Back then , Russia
had lost its battle to take keith to
conquer a peaceful neighbor and to
overthrow the democratically elected
government of Ukraine . And during that
initial phase of the war , we joined
with nations of goodwill from around
the world and together we surged in
critical military aid to help Ukraine
defend itself from flagrant Russian
aggression . In late april Russia
shifted its shifted to massive
artillery strikes against sovereign
Ukraine territory in the Donbas And
this contact group responded swiftly to
the changing character of Russia's war
of choice to help Ukraine defend its
territory . We've committed
unprecedented security assistance . The
United States has swiftly delivered a
broad range of capabilities including
Stinger anti aircraft systems , armored
personnel carriers , grenade launchers
in my 17 helicopters , body armor and
millions of rounds of small arms
munitions to take
just one example among many consider
howitzers . In april the United States
delivered our first batch of Em triple
seven how it serves including NATO
standard introducing NATO standard
artillery pieces to Ukraine for the
first time . And today the United
States has delivered 126 of those
Howard sirs . And along with countries
around the world , we've increased the
number of howitzer system systems for
Ukraine's defenders by more than 18
fold . And since our first contact
group meeting , the United States and
our allies and partners have delivered
a total of 26 long range rocket
artillery systems and the Associated
Gamblers rockets and all these
capabilities have demonstrably helped
Ukraine fight back against Russia's
aggression and even able enabled
Ukraine to resist Russia's ongoing
onslaught . So we've come a long way by
working together and today , four
months after our initial contact group
meeting the war is at another key
moment , Russian forces continue to
cruelly bombard Ukrainian cities and
civilians with missiles and artillery
fire . But Ukrainian forces have begun
near counter offensive in the south of
their country and they're integrating
the capabilities that we all have
provided to help themselves to fight
and reclaim their sovereign territory .
So it's fitting that we're meeting back
here at Ramstein , we established this
contact group as a free world was
racing to meet Ukraine's most urgent
requirements . But today this contact
group needs to position itself to
sustain Ukraine's brave defenders for
the long haul . And that means the
continued and determined flow of
capability . Now , it means
urgently moving urgently to innovate
and to push all of our defense
industrial base is to provide Ukraine
with the tools that it will need for
the hard road ahead . And it means
renewing and deepening our resolve to
stand by , Ukraine with support and
strength that doesn't hinge on anyone
particular battle . We're here because
we refuse to live in a world where big
powers trampled borders by force .
Our support for Ukraine's bedrock right
to defend itself doesn't waver based on
any given clash . And ladies and
gentlemen , the face of the war is
changing and so is the mission of this
contact group . We will work together
to train Ukraine's forces for the long
haul . We will work together to help
integrate Ukraine's capabilities and
bolster its joint operations for the
long haul . We'll work together to
upgrade our defense industrial basis ,
to meet Ukraine's requirements for the
long haul . And we'll work together for
the for production and innovation to
meet Ukraine's self defense needs for
the long haul . Now we're seeing the
demonstrable success of our common
efforts on the battlefield . And every
day we see the resolve of the allies
and partners worldwide who are helping
Ukraine resist Russia's illegal ,
imperial and indefensible war of
conquest and we must evolve as the
fight evolves In the weeks since the
contact group last met , the United
States has committed another $6.3
billion dollars in security assistance
to Ukraine . And yesterday the
president approved the latest crunch of
U . S . Assistance to Ukraine , valued
up Up to $675
million . And this is the
bidens at the biden administration's
20th drawdown of equipment from US
stocks since , uh , for the Ukraine
since the last august . The latest
package includes more gamblers , 105
millimeter howitzers , artillery
munitions , harm missiles ,
Humvees , armored ambulances , antitank
systems , small arms and more . And
since our last meeting in july many
allies and partners have come forward
with their own important new deliveries
of advanced radars and tanks and
armored personnel carriers . The UK has
sent a second tranche of M 2 70 MlRS
launchers and munitions And that brings
British assistance to Ukraine to a
total of £2. .
Germany and Denmark have both also
announced significant packages of
military assistance . And let me
especially thank Minister Lambrecht for
Germany's recent commitment to boosting
Ukraine's air defenses . I'd also like
to thank Poland for serving as a
linchpin of our efforts to support the
Ukrainians and for its generous
donations of military equipment .
Earlier this summer . For example ,
Poland transferred three battalions of
155 millimeter self propelled howard
serves to Ukraine and meanwhile ,
Slovakia North Macedonia and several
other countries have announced their
own critical donations of tanks and
other heavy armor . So I look forward
to building on that momentum and
finding more innovative ways for all of
us to support Ukraine's defenders .
That means reinvigorating our defense
industrial basis to match both
Ukraine's priorities and our own needs .
And it means coming up with new ways to
accelerate our production of key
capabilities . And so in our
discussions today , we'll also talk
through the next steps in standing up
an international training mission for
the Ukrainian Forces . We're also gonna
talk about a new push to bring together
our national armaments directors under
the auspices of this contact group , to
intensify our efforts to meet Ukraine's
long term needs . And ladies and
gentlemen , just looking around the
table , I can see our unity of purpose .
I see determined allies and partners
who are just as resolute in supporting
Ukraine as we were in april when we
first met here at Ramstein . And so
we've got a lot of work to do today .
But I know that we're all going to
leave Ramstein this time with even
greater momentum . We've done so much
and we're determined to do even more
and I know that we're going to deepen
our shared resolve to help the people
of Ukraine in their fight for freedom .
Thank you very much