On Wednesday 12 February 2025, the Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias participated in the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which was an initiative of the Minister of Defence of the United Kingdom, John Healey. The meeting was held in NATO’s Headquarters in Brussels.

The Minister of National Defence stated the following:

“The NATO Ministerial Council is meeting today, with the subject of the meeting being Ukraine. It is the first meeting that the new American Minister, Pete Hegseth attends. It will be rather interesting to hear his points, but I would like to point out that it is not the American Minister who is presiding here today, but rather the British Minister, John Healey.

I would like to repeat that it is of great significance to see the positions of the new United States Government on the matter of Ukraine.

And I would also like to remind you of something else, which has to do with NATO exercises:

NATO has always been an Alliance of values and all of its exercises are planned with total respect to the sovereignty and sovereign rights of all of its member-states. There is no other way or approach on the matter and a different approach is unforgivable.

Thank you very much”.

Mr. Dendias had bilateral discussions in the framework of the Council’s meeting with the Minister of National Defence of Lithuania Mr. Dovilė Šakalienė, as well as a brief meeting with the Minister of Defence of Latvia Mr. Andris Sprūds.

During his visit to Brussels, the Minister of National Defence met the Dutch Commissioner for Climate Action of the E.U., Mr. Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra.