In late March 2021, the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley spoke with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak to discuss the current security environment in Eastern Europe.[61] On the same day, Milley had a conversation with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov.[62][63] Ukraine's then-defense minister Andriy Taran had a telephone conversation with U.S. defense secretary Lloyd Austin to discuss specific areas of strengthening cooperation in the field of security and defense.