U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III has said that the work of countries from all over the world in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group means that Ukraine matters.

"They [the member countries] have done magnificent work, it's been great to be a part of that. It's 50 countries from all over the world. And today the group got bigger because Argentina joined our ranks, which means that countries around the world continue to signal through their action that they believe that Ukraine matters," he said during a joint press briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Thursday.

Austin said that today's ministerial was the last one before the NATO Summit in the United States next month.

"There is some important work to be done. And I look forward to some great discussions," he said.

Stoltenberg, for his part, thanked Austin for his "leadership, your personal commitment to NATO, and not least for everything you have done to mobilize support for Ukraine."

"The support, the security assistance, the training and everything that the group has done to help Ukraine prevail has been really critical and you have been really the man that made this possible. So, we are all extremely grateful for what you've done for NATO and for Ukraine in particular over the last few years," he said.

Speaking about the upcoming meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, the Secretary General said that the ministers will address both Ukraine's immediate needs for more support, particularly, air defense and ammunition.

"I welcome the agreement of in the United States on the supplemental for Ukraine and also the fact that European allies and Canada are stepping up with significant additional support to Ukraine. Today and tomorrow at the Defense Minister meeting of NATO we will address how to establish even stronger institutionalist framework to ensure the support for Ukraine for long haul that includes also multi-year financial pledge to Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.