Defence minister François Bausch with chief of defence General Steve Thull at the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group Meeting in Rammstein, Germany on 26 April. Défense

Defence minister François Bausch with chief of defence General Steve Thull at the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group Meeting in Rammstein, Germany on 26 April. Défense

Luxembourg minister of defence François Bausch has said providing assistance to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion was about preserving democratic values and peace in Europe.

Bausch (déi Gréng) led a Luxembourg delegation to the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group Meeting in Rammstein, Germany on Tuesday. Initiated by US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin, the meeting was attended by some 40 countries--all 30 Nato members as well as the likes of Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Ukrainian minister of defence, Oleksiy Reznikov, also addressed the meeting to provide an update on the current situation and also to call for additional capabilities to enable the Ukrainian armed forces to combat Russia’s invasion.

Bausch said that the grand duchy remained committed to doing everything possible to continue supporting Ukraine. “It is not just about helping Ukraine in the war against Russia and pushing the Russian aggressor beyond Ukraine’s borders, it is also about preserving our values of democracy, freedom and peace in Europe,” the minister said.

Luxembourg has already supplied some €50m worth of military equipment to Ukraine, which amounts to around 10% of its annual defence budget. Bausch was impressed by the number of countries that signed up to the meeting on Tuesday, saying it was an international show of solidarity by those nations that wanted to highlight a commitment to democratic principles and did not want to turn back the clock on the world order.

Speaking on RTL radio on Wednesday morning, Bausch stressed that the Ukraine Defense Consultative Group was not a Nato-led initiative but was a community that had come together to assist Ukraine in its appeal for help in its fight for self-determination.

Austin said that the participating countries would form a monthly contact group that would be “a vehicle for nations of goodwill to intensify our efforts, and coordinate our assistance, and focus on winning today’s fight, and the struggles to come.”

Visit to Lithuania and Latvia

François Bausch also said he would warn Luxembourgers against going to fight in the war. RTL’s François Aulner cited information that at least one person from the grand duchy had taken up arms against Russia. “This is a war and no matter how angry you get…you have to be careful what you do,” said Bausch.

Bausch said that under current circumstances Luxembourg had no plans to send additional troops to Lithuania--currently six soldiers are stationed there as part of a force defending the EU’s external borders. Bausch is set to visit Latvia and Lithuania next week on a trip that had long been planned. He told RTL that the grand duchy is helping  to clean up a heavily polluted former Russian military base in Latvia.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war were also discussed at the Rammstein meeting, Bausch said. “But for diplomacy to work…the other side must be prepared to enter negotiations seriously, and Mr Putin and his government have really not shown that willingness.” Bausch stressed that the war should end as soon as possible, and that Ukraine must be given a chance to exist as an independent people.

The minister said he was hopeful that UN secretary general António Guterres’s mission to Moscow and Kyiv would include some package that could further diplomatic efforts, though Guterres left a meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday saying that it was “clear that there are two different positions on what is happening in Ukraine.”