German Defense Minister Says Europe Agrees To Increase Military Support For Ukraine

West armored vehicle assistance for Ukraine. (Twitter/@DefenceU)

JAKARTA - German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Monday Europe would increase military support for Ukraine, after talks with colleagues from Britain, France, Italy and Poland on how to step up defense efforts as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.

"Our target is to allow Ukraine to act from a strong position," Boris Pistorius told reporters in Berlin, after hosting a meeting of the leading Group of Five countries in European defense.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Berlin, Polish Defense Minister Wldyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz echoed Pistorius' promise for more assistance to Kyiv.

"Europe must further coordinate its efforts, must align its actions, must have a higher goal, in order to become a good partner for the United States," he said.

"Today we are obliged to say it clearly, Europe must step up its efforts in terms of helping Ukraine, but most importantly in terms of its own safety. Without greater spending, without awareness in every European society about the times we are currently living, everything is meaningless," he said.

It is known that Trump's election - which is skeptical of US support for Ukraine - has added pressure on Europe to step up its role in arming Kyiv if Washington, the largest donor so far, reduced its aid.

Earlier, met hours after Trump's victory, Pistorius and French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu on November 6 agreed to hold a meeting with their colleagues.

Meanwhile, the NATO mission located in Wiesbaden will take over the coordination of Western military aid to Ukraine in January, Pistorius said, a move that had been estimated months earlier.

The formation of a new mission, dubbed NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), is widely seen as an attempt to protect aid mechanisms against Trump's interferences.