Pentagon explained why Hegseth will not be at Ramstein meeting: schedule "made it impossible" to attend
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth will not attend the Ramstein meeting at NATO headquarters today, as his schedule allegedly "made it impossible".
This was stated by Pentagon spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson to Politico, Censor.NET reports with reference to UP.
As noted, the Pentagon chief will be in Brussels for a meeting of NATO defense ministers on Thursday, but his place at a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine's defense on Wednesday will be taken by US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, according to a defense department spokesman and two people familiar with the plans.
The U.S. Department of Defense explained that Hegseth will not be able to attend in person due to his schedule.
"Mr. Hegseth's travel schedule has made it impossible for him to attend tomorrow's meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The United States is focused on bringing the war in Ukraine to a swift end on terms that will establish a lasting peace," Pentagon spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson said in a statement.
The United Kingdom and Germany took over the leadership of Ramstein in February after Hegseth said that the United States would no longer play a key role in the regular meetings, which were launched by former US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in April 2022.
Earlier, Censor.NET reported that the next meeting in the Ramstein format would take place on June 4. Later it became known that Hegseth would not participate in today's Ramstein meeting.
