At a military base in southeastern Poland, the top U.S. military officer and his Ukrainian counterpart met face to face for the first time since Putin’s invasion into Ukraine began almost a year ago. General Mark Milley and General Valerii Zaluzhnyi met Tuesday at a site near the Ukraine-Poland border and talked.

It’s a crucial time as Putin’s war with Ukraine enters the one-year mark. The meeting underscores the growing ties between the U.S. military and the Ukrainian military. The two military leaders met for about two hours. They have frequently spoken about Ukraine’s military needs and the state of the war but not in person before Tuesday.

The international community is ramping up military assistance to Ukraine and that includes expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the U.S. The U.S. and a coalition of European and other nations is providing a Patriot missile battery, tanks, increased air defense, and other weapons systems. Ukraine’s troops face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province where Russian troops seek to turn the tide after a series of battlefield losses recently.

A spokesman for General Milley, Army Col. Dave Butler, told reporters traveling with Milley that the two generals thought it important to meet in person. Reporters did not accompany Milley to the meeting and agreed to not identify the military base in southeastern Poland for safety reasons. An anticipated meeting in Brussels was changed at the last minute.

“These guys have been talking on a very regular basis for about a year now, and they’ve gotten to know each other,” Butler said. “They’ve talked in detail about the defense that Ukraine is trying to do against Russia’s aggression. And it’s important — when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, there’s a difference.”

Butler said there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi would travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defense chiefs this week, but when it became clear on Monday that it would not happen, they quickly decided to meet in Poland, near the border.

Many U.S. civilian leaders have gone to Ukraine but no uniformed military service members are allowed to go into the country other than those connected to the embassy in Kyiv, per Biden administration instructions. Butler said only a small group traveled by car to the meeting. The group consisted of Milley and six of his senior staffers. This meeting will allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyi’s concerns and information to other military leaders during the NATO chief’s meeting. Milley can “describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that, and the way he does that is one by understanding it himself but by also talking to Zaluzhnyi on a regular basis.”

Ukrainian forces are being trained by the U.S. in Germany, at the Grafenwoehr training area. General Milley got his first look at the so-called combined arms instruction during a two-hour visit there on Monday. Ukrainian troops will be able to launch an offensive or counter a surge in Russian attacks. More than 600 Ukrainian troops began an expanded training program at the camp just a day before Milley arrived.

There are lots of meetings happening this week about the war in Ukraine as winter fighting continues.

Milley and Zaluzhnyi’s meeting kicks off a series of high-level gatherings of military and defense leaders this week. Milley and other chiefs of defense will meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group consists of about 50 top defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and they work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.

The meetings are expected to focus on Ukraine’s ongoing and future military needs as the hard-packed terrain of the winter months turns into muddy roads and fields in the spring.

On Sunday night, 90-100 Ukrainian soldiers arrived at Fort Sill in Oklahoma to begin training on the Patriot System. Ukraine is receiving one Patriot System from the U.S. and one from Germany.