Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will skip this week’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels, marking the first absence by a U.S. defense chief in the alliance’s three-year history.
- The Ukraine Defense Contact Group has provided Kyiv with an estimated $126 billion in military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the United States.
- Hegseth plans to travel to Brussels for a NATO military chiefs session before attending D-Day commemorations in Normandy on June 6.
- The Trump administration’s 2026 budget proposal calls for a second consecutive cut to Space Force funding, requesting $26.3 billion—about 13 percent below the 2025 level.
- Ukraine’s recent drone strike on Russian airbases has highlighted U.S. vulnerability to similar attacks and prompted Congress to set aside roughly $1.3 billion for Pentagon counter-drone systems.