Weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian troops ran out of ammunition for their old Soviet-era artillery.
United States soon scouring foreign arsenals around the world for the right type of projectiles As part of its commitment to support Kiev against its better-equipped opponent. But the Pentagon knew it could never have enough, as fewer countries produced Russian heavy artillery ammunition and their Cold War stockpiles had become obsolete with age.
So on a Saturday that spring, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III called General Mark A. Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to find out how many American howitzers could be sent to Ukraine quickly, along with new weapons. developed high-explosive shells.
That call set in motion a chain of events that led to an arms pipeline for Ukraine and a reshaping of how the United States intends to build alliances to push back Russian influence.
Biden administration officials first turned to US allies for help. But they have also used relationships developed over the years with the militaries of non-NATO countries to create a network of aid to Ukraine, a prime example of how the administration's focus on strengthening alliances has paid dividends for US interests around the world.
On Thursday, the collective of nations known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group is gathering at Ramstein Air Base in Germany for the 25th and final time under the Biden administration.
It is uncertain whether it will continue under the leadership of the incoming administration. President-elect Donald J. Trump is deeply skeptical of supporting Ukraine, less involved in alliances and openly sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.
When a contact group first met on April 26, 2022Only 61 days after the invasion of Russia, the United States, England, France and a number of other countries supported Kiev separately. But dozens more joined them in Germany to hear battlefield updates directly from their Ukrainian counterparts.
Massacre of civilians in BuchaThe suburb of Kiev was discovered recently. Mr. Austin and General Milley made it clear that without more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine, similar atrocities could happen, and asked the assembled senior figures to dig deep into their arsenals for much-needed supplies.
The meeting was quickly convened with just four days' notice in Ramstein, distinguished by its central location in Europe, a long runway for airlifted delegations and the ability to ensure tight security while hosting sensitive discussions on Ukraine's future.
In the unusual ballroom of the base's officers' club, Mr. Austin and General Milley, along with their Ukrainian and German counterparts, sat at the head of a horseshoe arrangement of folding tables, along with representatives from 40 countries.
It has since grown to at least 52 countries, and the Pentagon has hinted that it has kept the involvement of others under wraps.
Since then, they met almost every month.
A global battle for weapons and influence
Shortly after Mr. Austin landed in Ramstein in a C-17 cargo plane on Wednesday morning, snow began to fall on large Air Force transport planes along the runway. He prepared for the next day's meeting at a nearby hotel.
This will be the final contact group meeting of his tenure as defense minister.
That evening, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustam Umerovand two assistants walked through the hotel's second-floor corridors in military fatigues to attend a private meeting with Mr. Austin.
The Ukrainians traveled light without a large security detail nearby for their American counterpart.
The troops led by Mr. Umerov still overlap in some ways with the two defining military cultures of the Cold War — the United States and NATO and that of the former Soviet Union.
Over the decades, both sides have created their own weapons ecosystems that are compatible with those of allies but not those of their enemies. While the differences between the 152-millimeter projectile fired from Russian-made artillery pieces and the 155-millimeter version adopted by NATO may seem small, they are emblematic of how militaries around the world have long been divided into one of two camps.
Determining whether a country was aligned with the West or Moscow was often as easy as figuring out what weapons it was using.
But the number of countries producing Russian-made weapons has declined, especially since many former Soviet republics that once produced them have joined NATO.
The global supply of these weapons has further decreased as Russia has suspended most of its arms exports to maintain sufficient stockpiles of ammunition in Ukraine for its own needs.
The change forced many of Russia's traditional customers to look elsewhere for munitions, just as more countries around the world started producing weapons that meet NATO standards, even if they are not official members of the alliance.
A new type of alliance is emerging
Converting Ukraine, a former member of the Soviet Union, to NATO fighter jets Like the F-16s and as a weapon HIMARS mobile missile launchers removed more countries from Russia's orbit.
This change is evident in the composition of the contact group, which includes 20 states formerly in Moscow's Cold War sphere of influence – some of which continued to receive arms from Russia until the invasion of Ukraine.
The composition of the contact group represents a new approach to American power projection — one that U.S. officials said future administrations could use during major conflicts, such as a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Although NATO has always been an alliance of nations pledged to come to each other's aid if attacked, its influence has expanded beyond its official membership of 32 nations since the mid-1990s through partnerships with dozens of other nations. The United States used that network to establish the contact group.
In addition to NATO member states, many of the countries participating in the contact group are what the State Department calls “major non-NATO allies.” These include Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Morocco, New Zealand, Qatar, South Korea and Tunisia.
After decades of arms sales, these countries together had a deep inventory of NATO-standard weapons to share with Ukraine.
Others are on NATO's periphery, with Bosnia, Georgia, Ireland, Kosovo and Moldova joining the group, as well as Russia's former military clients Ecuador and Peru, which have partnered with the alliance.
Lessons from the fight against ISIS
Mr Austin modeled the contact group on the Coalition to Defeat Islamic State, which was launched in September 2014 and includes more than 80 countries.
At the time, Mr. Austin was the Army general in charge of US forces in the Middle East. Eight years later, at Ramstein, he shook hands with many of the same leaders who supported him in form.
According to the Pentagon, the countries of the group supporting Ukraine have given Kiev more than 126 billion dollars in military aid, financial and technical equipment.
While the defense secretary worked on developing and organizing the new coalition, the State Department worked behind the scenes to get more of Russia's former military client states to donate their Soviet-era weapons to Kiev in exchange for financial grants and fast-track access to the latest coalition. American weapon.
Two and a half years after the war, a Defense Department office still updates weekly a file called The Matrix — a spreadsheet of countries known to have Russian weapons and their likely stockpiles.
It also includes a list of what the U.S. is willing to ask of them on behalf of Ukraine and what incentives Washington can offer in return, thanks to the flow of money authorized by Congress.
It is unclear whether such efforts will continue in the next administration, but it is clear that military and civilian officials have considered the possibility that Ukraine could fight without its biggest benefactor.
According to Pentagon officials, if the Trump administration decides to leave the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, another country could take the lead, continuing the global effort to supply arms to Ukraine without Washington's influence.