Hegseth Again Skipping Ukraine Meeting, Will Send Top Lieutenant Instead

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will again skip the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting this week, making the U.S. one of the few countries that won’t send a top civilian defense official to the critical gathering of Ukrainian allies.

Instead, the Pentagon’s policy chief Elbridge Colby will attend the virtual meeting just as he did for the last meeting in February, according to two U.S. officials who, like others in this story, were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Hegseth has only sporadically attended the meetings over the past year — a sign that the Trump administration has other priorities and increasingly expects Europe to shoulder the burden of supplying weapons to Kyiv.

Over 50 defense ministers from countries committed to supporting Ukraine will gather virtually on Wednesday. The meeting will be led by German defense minister Boris Pistorius and U.K. defense chief John Healey, who have taken over coordinating the group after the Trump administration gave up its leadership position soon after taking office.

The leader of NATO forces, American Gen. Alexus Grynkewich is unable to attend. But his deputy, U.K. Air Chief Marshal Sir Johnny Stringer, and the German Maj. Gen. Ulf Häussler, deputy commander of the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine, will log on to the meeting instead.

“NATO continues to deliver crucial support” to Ukraine, Grynkewich’s spokesperson, Col. Martin O’Donnell said in a statement. “The involvement of these two leaders in this meeting ensures it.”

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has publicly and privately told allies that it is focusing on homeland security and the Western hemisphere, and expects Europe to provide for its own defense. The shift was spelled out in the White House National Security Security Strategy and Pentagon National Defense Strategy, which bumped Europe down the list of American concerns below the Western hemisphere, homeland defense and the Asia Pacific.

At the same time, administration officials have also berated NATO allies for not buying enough American weapons, indicating a one-way street approach to the alliance that has rankled longtime allies.

The relationship has been further damaged by the Trump administration’s anger over Europe’s refusal to join in the Iran war. Some allies, such as Spain, have shut down their airspace to U.S. warplanes involved in the conflict.

While President Donald Trump has demanded that NATO countries send ships to help re-open the Strait of Hormuz, the U.K. has called together meetings of dozens of allies in an attempt to coordinate some sort of response, but so far none has been announced.

The Trump administration halted new military assistance for Kyiv upon entering office, but kept up shipments of previously pledged weapons and equipment that was granted under the Biden administration. Through it all, the U.S. has continued to share battlefield intelligence with Ukraine, however, and a new program was implemented to allow European allies to purchase U.S.-made arms for shipment to Kyiv.

The Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, has become the focus of the Ukraine Contact Group meetings, and it has already put billions worth of equipment under contract. But Trump administration officials have begun warning countries that U.S. weapons supplies to Ukraine may be interrupted in the coming months as the Pentagon prioritizes their use for the war in Iran.

A U.S. official and European diplomat with knowledge of the PURL initiative said that shipments are continuing unabated, however.

There is also renewed hope in the European Union that a stalled 90 billion euro military loan for Ukraine could move now that Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban lost his re-election bid on Sunday to Peter Magyar, who has pledged to renew aid for Kyiv.