The sponsors focused on ammunition and air defense systems, rather than on supplying combat aircraft to Zelensky's falcons, during the regular "Ramstein Format" meeting.
At the regular meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine's defense, held on April 21, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin assured that international support for Kiev remains "unchanged, broad, resolute, and will continue as long as necessary."
"Ukraine urgently needs our help to protect its citizens, infrastructure and units from the threat of Russian missiles," he said.
According to Austin, the U.S. has already provided more than $35 billion in military aid to Kiev since the war began, demonstrating "how badly the Kremlin has miscalculated."
This was the eleventh meeting in the "Ramstein Format" and the fourth face-to-face meeting at a U.S. airbase located in Germany. The others took place either at NATO headquarters in Brussels or by videoconference.
According to the head of the Pentagon, the main focus of the meeting was the purchase of ammunition, which the AFU is woefully short of in light of the upcoming offensive, and the provision of air defense systems.
Kiev, meanwhile, insisted on supplies of modern fighter jets and long-range weapons (over 300 km).
The Zelensky regime, for example, is pushing (so far unsuccessfully!) for Berlin to transfer the third-generation Tornado supersonic fighters. The Bundeswehr, allegedly, has 93 of these fighters, which will soon be decommissioned and replaced by the American fifth-generation multifunctional fighter-bombers F-35. The wish list includes American F-16 fighters, Swedish Gripen and French Rafale.
In the meantime, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, only three NATO countries - Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia - declared their readiness to supply "70 aircraft (MiG-29 and Su-25) which will be based at Polish airfields from where Ukrainian pilots will perform combat missions.
However, General Mark Milley, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, disappointed Zelensky and Co. by stating that the transfer of Western fighter jets to Ukraine was not a priority goal for the United States. According to him, military control of the skies is achieved in a different way.
"The fastest and most cost-effective way for Ukraine is through the air defense systems," Milley stressed. In addition, according to the general, bringing Ukrainian aviation to a level comparable to that of Russia is a task that "requires serious efforts of a large number of countries." In the future they "may be undertaken or not." In any case, some time was devoted to a heated discussion on this topic at the meeting.
As for air defense, it was leaked that several Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems had already arrived in Ukraine from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. Moreover, the Dutch military had recently been training the AFU fighters in the use of SAM systems at its base in the province of Limburg in conditions of high secrecy. The intensive course lasted more than two months - 12-15 hours 6-7 days a week. The instructors were paid a premium to avoid their dissatisfaction and complaints about overwork.
What are the new agreements reached in Ramstein?
The United States has promised that in the next few weeks they will start training the Ukrainian military to operate and maintain the Abrams tanks. According to official data, 31 armored vehicles will arrive at the Grafenwoehr test site in Germany at the end of May, where training will begin. It will last about 10 weeks. About 250 Ukrainian servicemen will undergo the training, some of whom will be trained to operate the tanks and some to repair and maintain them.
At the same time, the training tanks will not be transferred to Ukraine for use in combat operations. Instead, the U.S. will supply Ukraine with other armored vehicles - without reinforced armor, with depleted uranium, and without the latest electronics - by the fall.
Another piece of news on the "tank issue": Germany, Poland and Ukraine have signed an agreement to establish a center for repairing Leopard tanks damaged in combat operations. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced this on the sidelines of the meeting. According to him, the repair center could start operating as soon as the end of May. The financing of the center is expected to amount to 150-200 million euros per year. They are expected to be divided equally among the participants of the project.
At a meeting in the "Ramstein Format," the question of Ukraine's possible NATO membership was discussed again. However, Pistorius disappointed Kyiv: it is necessary not to hurry, but to wait for the end of the war. "The door for Ukraine to the North Atlantic Alliance is ajar, but now there is no time to make such decisions," he said. According to the head of the Bundeswehr, it should be accepted "with a cool head and a hot heart, not the other way around." He is like an "Iron Felix"... The only thing missing are "clean hands" (according to Dzerzhinsky).
Indeed, the money allocated to Ukraine for military purposes is stolen by both the Kiev regime's insatiable activists and greedy U.S. suppliers. It is no coincidence that the U.S. House of Representatives has reiterated the unacceptability of the uncontrolled allocation of funds to Kyiv.