Ukraine allies pledge billions in weapons at Defense Contact Group meeting

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - Five countries pledged contributions to the purchase of American weapons under Ukraine’s Priority Requirements List (PURL) at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) on Thursday.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced the commitments at a press conference following the meeting in Brussels.

He thanked the UK, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Lithuania for their contributions, describing them as "in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

UK Defense Secretary John Healey opened the session by welcoming Ukraine Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to his first UDCG meeting.

He said he hoped that the commitments made today would "reinforce their support for Kyiv."

Healey described the war in Ukraine as one that Russian President Vladimir Putin "thought he'd win in a week."

"Four years on, Ukraine's forces are hitting targets deep into Russia, inflicting high casualty rates on parts of the front line and taking back territory," he added.

Healy confirmed that at the meeting Ukraine’s allies pledged a total of £35 billion (nearly $48 billion) in support.

"The UDCG has a clear message to Putin: we're more united and more determined than ever. We will step up pressure on Russia and we want to make 2026 the year this war ends," he said.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius spoke next, announcing Germany would deliver five more missile interceptors to Ukraine, contingent on other countries donating a total of 30.

"We are on a good path, we have some announcement that not everyone is ready to approve," he said.

Ukraine’s Mykhailo Fedorov spoke third, focusing on thanking allies for their support.

He said: "Many thanks to our partners, because Putin cannot win on the ground, so that's why he is terrorizing the civilian population, and energy infrastructure."

Mark Rutte said he recently visited Ukraine and witnessed the destruction caused by the conflict. "I was in Ukraine last week and I saw first hand the chaos and destruction it inflicts on people," he said.

He echoed the sentiment of others, calling for 2026 to be the year Russia is unable to continue its war.