Hegseth opts for virtual attendance at Ukraine defense group meeting

Hegseth Credits Panama with Improving Security Cooperation After Meeting with President

The meeting comes amid tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated assertions that the United States is being overcharged to use the Panama Canal and that China has influence over its operations.

EXC: SecDef Hegseth Announces Plans to Reopen Elite, Cold War-Era Military ‘Jungle School’ in Panama.

PULSE POINTS:What Happened: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announces plans to partially reopen the “Jungle School” in Panama, a former U.S. jungle warfare training site in the Panama Canal Zone, dormant since 1999. Who’s Involved: Pete Hegseth, U.S. troops in Panama, President Donald J. Trump. Where & When: Panama, during Hegseth’s trip for the Central American Security Conference (CENTSEC), April 8, 2025. Key Quote: “I should never put you in a…

US defense secretary credits Panama with improving security cooperation after meeting with president

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has credited Panama President José Raúl Mulino with improving security cooperation between their nations after the two men met

Hegseth opts for virtual attendance at Ukraine defense group meeting

PANAMA CITY — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will call into the next gathering of countries meeting to support Ukraine’s self-defense, days after some U.S. and European officials were doubting that he would attend at all, according to a U.S. and a European defense official.The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is a summit of 50 countries that have met for the last three years to coordinate military aid for Kyiv.Lloyd Austin, Hegseth’s predec…

Since Donald Trump returned to power in January, Washington has drastically reduced its participation in meetings of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine. But US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth – in other words, the head of the Pentagon – will participate virtually, on Friday, April 11, in a meeting of international supporters of Ukraine. The Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, which brings together about 50 countries that provid…

Hegseth Opts For Virtual Attendance At Ukraine Defense Group Meeting

PANAMA CITY — U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will call into the next gathering of countries meeting to support Ukraine’s self-defense, days after some U.S. and European officials were doubting that he would attend at all, according to a U.S. and a European defense official. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group is a summit of 50 countries that have met for the last three years to coordinate military aid for Kyiv. Lloyd Austin, Hegseth’s pred…