Ramstein summit with Biden to send Kyiv message of support, says German official
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BERLIN, Oct 8 (Reuters) -A summit of the Ramstein group led by U.S. President Joe Biden in Germany on Saturday will signal unwavering support for Ukraine, a German official said, as the arms donors group is set to meet at the highest level for the first time.
The gathering on the sidelines of Biden's Oct 10-13 state visit to Germany will drive home the message that Russia cannot hope to play for time and wait for Western support to cease, the German official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on Tuesday.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Washington gathered like-minded nations at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, southwestern Germany, establishing a group of some 50 nations whose defence ministers meet regularly to match Kyiv's arms requests with pledges of donors.
Saturday's meeting - the first at the level of leaders - will be opened in the afternoon with public remarks by Biden, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish President Andrzej Duda will also attend.
"The message to Ukraine will be that our support is powerful and enduring, and to Moscow that there's no use in speculating that we might waiver in our support and that time will play for the Russian war of aggression," the German official said.
Germany expects some 20 leaders to travel to Ramstein where Zelenskiy is set to present his "victory plan" which he describes as clear, specific steps for a just end to the war.
Dampening expectations, however, a U.S. official has characterized the plan as a repackaged request for more weapons and a lifting of restrictions on the use of long-range missiles.
The German official reiterated Scholz's readiness for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, provided that they offer a prospect for progress on the way to a just and sustainable peace, but warned Russia to not interpret this as weakness.
Putin said in June that Moscow would end the war he launched in February 2022 only if Kyiv agreed to hand over all of four regions claimed by Moscow and to drop its ambitions to join NATO. Kyiv rejected those demands as tantamount to surrender.
Reporting by Sabine Siebold in Berlin, additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw
Editing by Miranda Murray and Christina Fincher
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