BERLIN

Defense ministers from five major European nations gathered Monday in the German capital Berlin to reinforce military support for Ukraine and address concerns about potential shifts in US foreign policy in Donald Trump’s upcoming second presidency.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who hosted the meeting, told reporters that Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Poland are determined to assume more responsibility for Europe and will continue their military support for Ukraine.

“With President Trump, with a new US administration, certain things will change, and the sooner we prepare for this, the better. And of course, we will continue to coordinate closely with our European partners,” he said.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also joined part of the meeting via video link, Pistorius said, adding they discussed the latest developments on the front line and Ukraine's military needs.

He underlined that the five defense chiefs had agreed to maintain the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) format in order to continue facilitating coordination between NATO allies and Ukraine.

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said European allies will continue providing arms and training to Ukrainian soldiers, and France, together with Italy, will provide new weapon systems including Mistral missiles to Ukraine.

Speaking at a joint news conference after the meeting, Lecornu denied a recent report by the French newspaper Le Monde which claimed that France and the UK were discussing sending Western troops to Ukraine.

“I was surprised to read it, and I honestly haven't quite understood it,” he said in response to a reporter's question.

“The French president is planning a conference to be held in February, and at this conference, we want to think about what we can do differently in the future. And he said there was no taboo,” he said.

“There are various projects that we are thinking about (including) how we can increase the production of weapons systems so that we can produce more weapons systems close to the front lines. So these are initiatives that we are pursuing right now, and there are many other initiatives as well,” he added.

British Defense Secretary John Healey said that at the meeting, European allies reaffirmed their commitment to NATO and pledged to increase defense spending in response to rising threats.

“First and foremost, we discussed with Rustem Umerov the need to redouble our support for Ukraine, because the defense of Europe, the defense of the UK, starts in Ukraine, and if (Russian President Vladimir) Putin prevails in Ukraine, he will not stop there,” he said, further arguing that Russia’s objective is the destabilization of democracies across Europe.

“As the war in Ukraine enters a critical stage, this is the time for Europe to step up on our security and on our collective defense. We're working together to strengthen NATO's eastern flank. We're working together to strengthen collaboration on developing air defenses,” he said.