US envoy Kellogg to attend Ukraine aid conference in Rome
ROME (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg will attend a July 10-11 international aid conference on Ukraine in Rome, an Italian government source said, a day after Trump said the U.S. would resume sending weapons to Kyiv.
U.S. attempts to end Russia's war in Ukraine through diplomacy have largely stalled and Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not appear to be looking to stop the conflict, after the two spoke late last week.
Trump has appeared to waver in his support for Ukraine at times, however. Monday's announcement of resumed U.S. weapons shipments follows Kyiv's warning last week that the brief halt would weaken its ability to defend against intensifying Russian airstrikes and battlefield advances.
The Rome conference - the fourth such event since Russia's February 2022 invasion of its neighbour - is mainly aimed at mobilizing international support for Ukraine.
The source said about 500 billion euros ($590 billion) would be needed for the reconstruction, recovery and modernisation of Ukraine, citing World Bank estimates.
Kyiv has been asking Washington to sell it more Patriot missiles and systems that it sees as key to defending its cities.
Germany said last week it was in talks on buying Patriot air defence systems for Ukraine to bridge the gap after the Pentagon briefly paused some shipments.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will open the Rome conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to be in Rome along with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Dutch leader Dick Schoof and Greece's Kyriakos Mitsotakis among others, the source said.
($1 = 0.8509 euros)
(Reporting by Angelo Amante, writing by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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