
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth will not attend a NATO-led meeting of more than 50 defence ministers in Brussels on Wednesday, an absence that will be seen as another sign of Washington pulling back from its support for Ukraine against Russia's war.
For the first time since the US created an international group to coordinate military aid to Ukraine three years ago — following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 — a Pentagon chief will not be present at a meeting of the defence ministers.