Defence Ministers from the Group of Five nations—France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK—met in Helenów, Poland, on 13 January 2025.
According to a news release from the Ministry of Defence, the meeting resulted in a joint statement reaffirming their commitment to Ukraine’s self-defence and enhancing European security. Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard, represented the UK at the discussions.
The Defence Ministers reiterated their commitment to supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. The statement emphasised, “We reiterate our unwavering support to Ukraine in its right of self-defence in order to counter Russia’s aggression and in achieving a just and lasting peace, in line with the international law, for as long as it takes.”
The ministers highlighted the critical role of initiatives like the Ukraine Defence Contact Group and the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU). These efforts, coordinated with the EU Military Assistance Mission Ukraine (EUMAM), aim to deliver capabilities that meet Ukraine’s immediate needs while enhancing interoperability.
The joint statement called for fostering defence industrial cooperation, pledging, “We encourage our domestic industrial sector to cooperate, engage and collaborate with the Ukrainian defence industry in order to create synergies and to improve the standards and production, which are instrumental to enable their self-defence and contribute to peace and stability in Europe.”
The ministers outlined measures to achieve this, including industrial information exchanges, joint ventures, and enhancing Ukrainian defence standards to strengthen the country’s ability to self-defend while improving interoperability with allied forces.
The meeting also focused on bolstering NATO’s capabilities to counter Russia and ensure the security of member states. The ministers stated, “Given the deteriorated security environment, we consider it to be of paramount importance to focus on our collective efforts to keep the Alliance and Member States safe.”
They reaffirmed the importance of NATO’s strategic deterrence and defence goals, citing the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague as an opportunity to reinforce the Alliance’s posture. The statement added, “We see the upcoming 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague as an opportunity to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defence posture, including through the full implementation of decisions from the Madrid, Vilnius and Washington Summits.”
The ministers stressed the need for stronger EU-NATO cooperation, particularly in the areas of information exchange and aligning planning processes. “It is vital to further align both the NATO Defence Planning Process and the EU’s Headline Goal Process,” they noted, ensuring interoperability and maximising warfighting capacity.
Future Goals and Next Meeting
Looking ahead, the Group of Five committed to deeper defence cooperation and exploring options for streamlining procurement standards and procedures.
Their next meeting, set to take place in Paris, will include NATO Secretary General, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and the EU Commissioner for Defence and Space.
All imagery in this article is Crown Copyright 2025.
First step towards ENATO? with the Donald Xcreting all over X right now about his plans to conquer North America it should give the UK more leverage in EU trade negotiations over a potential UK EU security agreement, throw in better customs procedures and a refugee returns agreement and this could work out well for the UK.
Then we just have to get the Open back to Turnberry, throw in a visit to Balmoral for the Donald and maybe dangle a bit of Diego Garcia for a nice non tariff deal then watch the rest of the world duke it out in a trade war.
Hopefully Prince William is on stand by.
You must be taking some really high quality acid.
I hear the MOD are working with B and Q now, trying to get a reduction on kitchen sinks. To send to Ukraine as its all we have left.
Good one, but Rachel from accounts will say “computer says no”.
Fine, “support”, but stop giving them stuff. The cupboard is bare. And an observation from two guys who I know who are “in the know” ( they spent two years in the Ukraine Legion ) The Ukes are as corrupt as hell. The NCO’s and Officers have a a habit of “disappearing” kit on lorries in the night. So instead of an M16 they were dished Soviet era AK’s. They also fight, still, Soviet style. Nah, no Nato membership, let them be a buffer zone like it should have been all along. The MIC are the only people profiting from this proxy war.
All for supporting Ukraine, but, there has to be a point where we start to ask questions (I’m sure we already are) about some of the decisions that they’re making on the ground. The recent attempted second advance into Kursk was a net loss in terms of km square, wasting men and machine in Kursk instead of using it where it’s needed in the East seems crazy.
Russia/Putin is too deep into this now, in terms of number of killed/wounded and the economic cost to just up and leave. I’d love to see Ukraine win this but, looking at what’s happening daily, it seems like it’s just borrowed time. Russia is more equipped for attritional warfare than Ukraine is and Ukraine doesn’t have the manpower / kit to make a decent breakthrough where it needs to. We can send them as much kit as we like but without the manpower, how much use is it really?
France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK can say what they like but if Donald says no more cash or equipment the war is over because Europe cannot cover what the US provides.
Whilst it might be sad for the Ukrainians and embolden the Russians it might help shake us from our selfish mindset that Uncle Sam will always bale us out.
Bearing in mind the population of the EU and U.K. is over 150 million more than the US I do tend to agree with Mr Trumps logic on this. That many in Europes elite and chattering classes don’t like him is probably a sign that they know our free ride is coming to end. He is in my opinion not the nicest of people and he doesn’t do diplomacy but on the issue of freeloading Europe including the U.K. he is bang on the money.