Minister Pistorius and Secretary Streeting — thank you for convening this important session once again.
I send my regards on behalf of Secretary Hegseth to Secretary General Rutte and the distinguished Ministers and officials assembled for this forum today.
At our last UDCG, I spoke about the significant transition underway: European allies assuming the leading role providing for their conventional defense and, additionally, the bulk of support for Ukraine.
This transition is no longer merely a concept. It is taking hold, and it is producing tangible results.
This progress has been directly supported with uninterrupted deliveries of European-funded U.S.-origin weaponry through the PURL initiative.
In recent months, Ukrainian forces have sustained a stout defense — holding the front line and denying further Russian advances, while continuing to defend against aerial attacks.
This provides an important lesson.
Europe's greater assumption of responsibility for its own defense is fully consistent with a strong and viable Ukrainian defense — provided that Europe continues to act with requisite seriousness and urgency.
In particular, the denial defense approach that forms the core of our military strategy for Europe has proven effective. Ukraine's ability to deny Russia the gains it seeks is not only critical to Ukraine's self-defense and to the prospects for a lasting peace; it is also an important example for Europe of how combat-credible conventional defense can deny territorial gains.
We should, however, be clear-eyed about the outlook.
As President Trump has stated, our goal is a lasting peace. We are supporting every effort in that direction.
From the standpoint of the Department of War, however, we cannot predict when this tragic war will end.
As you all well know, Russia is reconstituting its forces and defense-industrial capacity. We must be prepared for a protracted conflict and for Ukraine's requirements to persist in the months and years ahead. And we must also be prepared for other plausible contingencies as well.
That reality makes it all the more important for Europe to sustain support for Ukraine while also accelerating its own rearmament and reindustrialization. Fortunately, this is happening— but we must not be complacent.
First, Europe must continue — and where necessary increase — support for Ukraine's immediate battlefield requirements through PURL.
The continued flow of munitions and critical capabilities is effective; it remains essential to enabling Ukrainian forces to hold the front line and deny further Russian advances.
Second, Europe must plan now for sustained procurement that supports both Ukraine's long-term force reconstitution and Europe's own defense requirements.
As allies, we must ensure that needed European investment in its defense industrial base are integrated with and complementary to America's. We welcome greater European investment into your own defense industrial bases. We recognize that is natural and practical. But I stress that we must plan for and implement our investments based on military efficacy, not ancillary objectives.
In this vein, support for Ukraine contributes to Europe's security by helping to rebuild Europe's military strength and industrial capacity. But words are not enough. Real money and industrial capacity must be put to work. Again, I underline that this is happening but we must not slacken.
The United States stands ready to continue supporting this effort. Through JUMPSTART, we are enabling allies and partners to procure exquisite capabilities for Ukraine, including air-defense interceptors.
In Ankara earlier this year, NATO allies committed to supporting Ukraine on an equitable, predictable, and sustainable footing.
Now those commitments must be translated into sustained action:
Resourcing Ukraine's defense, expanding production capacity, and building the forces and industrial base Europe will need for the generation ahead.
These actions demonstrate what an ally-led defense looks like in practice, strengthening the credible deterrence that we are all pursuing as NATO 3.0.
We are confident that our allies can and will lead in supporting Ukraine's self-defense, and that this endeavor is highly correlated with Ukraine's own battlefield success.
Europe has shown what it is capable of achieving . Just recently, as I visited NATO Headquarters as well as SHAPE Headquarters last month, I saw further evidence that allies are functionally unanimous in NATO 3.0 as a strategic approach and the viability and promise of a Europe-led defense of the continent.
This is at the heart of the ongoing Force Posture Review, announced by Secretary Hegseth earlier this year at NATO. In the spirit of flexible realism and strategic rigor, we are advancing and accelerating NATO 3.0 to adapt America's strategic posture in Europe and transition to a more durable and powerful European-led conventional defense.
We are moving together in the right direction, thanks to President Trump and key European leaders like Secretary General Rutte. Now is the time to double down on that momentum to build a Europe with the strength and ability to lead on collective defense for the Continent.
Thank you very much.