German foreign minister pledges continued support for Ukraine in Kyiv visit
The German minister said in a statement that Germany will help Ukraine 'continue to defend itself successfully – with modern air defence and other weapons, with humanitarian and economic aid'.
Our institutions are working on the synchronization of European and Ukrainian sanctions. We are also fully aligning the European sanctions package targeting the regime in Iran, which includes numerous individuals, companies, and entities not only involved in military production… pic.twitter.com/cdUdJnbeo7
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 29, 2025
Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the United States, whose continuing support is in doubt.
However, Berlin has baulked at granting Mr Zelensky's request to provide Ukraine with powerful German- and Swedish-made Taurus long-range missiles.
This is due to fears that such a move could enrage the Kremlin and end up drawing Nato into Europe's biggest conflict since the Second World War.
Instead, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged in May to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any Western-imposed limitations on their use and targets.
Almost all night long, air raid alerts sounded across Ukraine — 477 drones were in our skies, most of them Russian-Iranian Shaheds, along with 60 missiles of various types. The Russians were targeting everything that sustains life. A residential building in Smila was also hit,… pic.twitter.com/1ExZhYAMBg
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 29, 2025
Mr Wadephul was accompanied on his trip to Kyiv by German defence industry representatives.
Russia's invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 620-mile front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and civilians.
The Russian effort to capture more Ukrainian territory has been costly in terms of casualties and damaged armour. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and has not budged from his war goals.
Mr Putin 'doesn't want negotiations, but (Ukrainian) capitulation', Mr Wadephul said in his statement.
Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine at the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in its escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
4 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Pentagon cuts off some weapons to Ukraine as munitions run low
Ukraine and the United States are "clarifying all the details of defense support, including air defense," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video statement posted to X on July 2. At a meeting the same day, Ukraine's foreign minister told John Ginkel, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv that "any delay or slowing down in supporting Ukraine's defense capabilities would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace," according to a press release from the Ukrainian foreign ministry. It's unclear which weapons are held up in the pause. According to reports, the delay includes dozens of Patriot missiles, more than 100 Hellfire missiles and more than 250 missiles for precision-guided missile systems called GMLRS. Parnell said the Defense Department would not release any information about the types of weapons or munitions that are delayed or the timeline of the review. It's also unclear if the pause would apply to the $3.4 billion that the United States sends to Israel annually to bolster its missile defense. The announcement comes days after the State Department greenlit another $510 million in munitions support equipment on June 30, handing it to Congress for approval. As of mid-March, the U.S. had provided Ukraine with $66.9 billion in military assistance since Russia launched its invasion in February of 2022, according to the State Department. That includes three Patriot air defense systems, which can take down ballistic and cruise missiles, 12 NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, more than 3,000 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and more than 3 million rounds of 155mm artillery. President Donald Trump temporarily shut down all military aid to Ukraine in March following an volatile meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, but restarted it weeks later. US support for Ukraine, Israel leaves missile stocks low The pause on weapons comes amid growing worry in Washington that American military support for Ukraine and Israel in its 12-day aerial war with Iran in June has left the Pentagon's stockpiles of munitions and air defense systems at concerningly low levels. Between Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the blows traded between Israel and Iran, "I'm not familiar with another instance in which we've had this level of a consumption rate" of missiles and interceptors, said Jon Ludwigson, director of the Government Accountability Office's contracting and national security acquisitions team. More: Israel may run low on missile interceptors, putting US in a 'bind' Adm. James Kilby, the chief of Naval operations, told Congress in early May, "Many of our munition inventories still fall below the total munition requirement." "Munitions transfers and expenditures related to the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict," and Houthi attacks on U.S. ships in the Red Sea have added up to $2.3 billion, according to Kilby's testimony. The Navy is also using SM-3s - Navy interceptors that can take down ballistic missiles - at an "alarming rate," Kilby said at a June 24 Senate budget hearing. The United States also used Patriot air defense systems to defend Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar from Iranian ballistic missiles in an attack Iran launched in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of three of its nuclear facilities on June 21. The Trump administration used more than $200 million worth of munitions in the first three weeks of Operation Rough Rider, its two-month attack on Houthi forces in Yemen, the New York Times reported. Israel burned through missile interceptors at a rapid clip to take down projectiles fired by Iran during the 12-day war, leaving its stockpiles depleted, according to reports. Brandan Buck, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, previously told USA TODAY that if the United States replenishes those interceptors, it would need to draw from other stockpiles.
NBC News
10 hours ago
- NBC News
CIA review criticizes procedures but not conclusions of intelligence report on 2016 Russia election interference
WASHINGTON — CIA officials failed in some cases to follow standard procedures in an intelligence analysis of Russian interference efforts in the 2016 election, according to an internal review declassified on Wednesday. Intelligence officers were given an unusually short timeline for the analysis, there was 'excessive involvement' by senior leaders and staff were given uneven access to crucial intelligence about Russia, the 'lessons-learned' review stated. But the review did not refute the findings of the 2017 intelligence assessment that Russia had waged an information warfare campaign designed to undermine Americans' confidence in the electoral process, damage Hillary Clinton and boost Donald Trump 's prospects in the 2016 election. 'While the overall assessment was deemed defensible, the identified procedural anomalies and tradecraft issues highlight critical lessons for handling controversial or politically charged topics,' the review stated. Trump and his allies have long rejected intelligence and other reporting indicating that Russia employed false information and propaganda to try to influence the 2016 election and tip the scales in Trump's favor. They have accused intelligence and law enforcement officials of plotting to tie Trump to Russia and cast doubt on the legitimacy of Trump's electoral victory in 2016. A special counsel appointed under the first Trump administration looked extensively into how the CIA crafted its assessment but filed no criminal charges and reported no clear evidence that the process was tainted by political bias. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation in 2020 concurred with the 2017 intelligence assessment and found no reason to dispute its conclusions. In Trump's second presidential term, his deputies have vowed to bring more transparency to the intelligence community and prevent any attempt to politicize its work. CIA Director John Ratcliffe ordered the internal review this year and declassified it on Wednesday, according to the spy agency. The intelligence assessment of the 2016 vote, which was requested by then President Barack Obama after the November election, found that Russia sought to undermine public faith in the democratic process, denigrate Clinton and that Moscow 'aspired' to help Trump win the election. Two senior leaders of a CIA mission center focusing on Russia objected to including the conclusion that Russia aimed to help secure Trump's victory, according to the internal review. They argued that the view was mainly supported by a single intelligence report while other judgments were backed up by more information. The review stated that the assessment was conducted in an unusually short timeline. Instead of having months to prepare a complex and politically sensitive analysis, the authors had 'less than a week to draft the assessment' and 'less than two days to formally coordinate it' with other intelligence officers. Multiple intelligence officers 'said they felt 'jammed' by the compressed timeline,' according to the review. The review said top CIA officials were heavily involved in the assessment effort, which 'was highly unusual in both scope and intensity.' As a result, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research were 'entirely shut out' of the analysis, which was a 'significant deviation' from standard practice in the intelligence community, according to the review. Authors of the 2016 assessment and other CIA officers also 'strongly opposed' including a reference in the analysis to the so-called 'Trump dossier' compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele. The dossier had unverified allegations about Trump colluding with Russia. In the end, a summary of the dossier was included in an annex, with a disclaimer that it was not used 'to reach the analytic conclusions' in the assessment. The review of the 2016 assessment also found reasons to praise the effort, saying much of the team's work showed 'robust' tradecraft with extensive sourcing and there was no sign of systemic problems. John Brennan, who was CIA director at the time of the assessment, told NBC News on Wednesday he was aware of the review but had not had a chance to read it yet.
Spectator
11 hours ago
- Spectator
The key to Giorgia Meloni's resounding success
Giorgia Meloni has emerged as one of the most significant politicians in Europe since she became Italy's first female prime minister in October 2022. I Am Giorgia, already a bestseller in Italy, is her account of how a short, fat, sullen, bullied girl – as she describes her young self – from a poor, single-parent family in Rome managed to do it. Her explanation is that she refused to play the victim, and found iron in her soul – even if, as she admits, she has never found happiness. It is an amazing story: how she transformed from an ugly duckling into the swan who is now a familiar figure on the largely male-dominated world stage, and whose humour, charm, friendliness and no-nonsense talk make her such a refreshing change. When she became Prime Minister, aged just 45, most media commentators dubbed her the 'far right heir of Benito Mussolini'. Her aim, they said, was to dismantle democracy, since she and others in the Fratelli d'Italia (FdI) were once in Italy's long-dead post-fascist party. She has not done so, and the party she co-founded in 2012, and defines as conservative, is more popular now than when the right-wing coalition she leads won the general election. That is almost unheard of for a party in government in the West. It is even rarer in Italy, where, since the fall of fascism in 1945, there have been 69 governments. Meloni's insistence that Italy should be close to America – very different to most European leaders' default position of resentment – led to a close rapport with Joe Biden, and continues now with Donald Trump. Biden saw her as a 'good friend' and Trump, who thinks her 'a fantastic woman', phones her when he wants to talk to Europe. It helps that she speaks good English, which, she tells us, she taught herself as a teenager, listening to pop music on her Walkman during long bus trips to and from school (a favourite was Michael Jackson). She dreamed of being an interpreter, and did well at school, but could not afford university. The title of the book is taken from an impassioned speech that Meloni gave in October 2019 at a right-wing coalition rally in Rome, when she bellowed: They want to call us parent 1, parent 2, gender LGBT, citizen X, with code numbers. But we are not code numbers… and we'll defend our identity. I am Giorgia. I am a woman. I am a mother. I am Italian. I am Christian. You will not take that away from me! The speech, which captures the essence of her politics, was so talked about it made her a social media star and caused support for the FdI to surge. It was even turned into a disco dance track designed to embarrass her, but which instead became a smash hit that made young people warm to her. At the May general election the year before, the party had received only 4 per cent of the vote; but at the 2022 general election it got 26 per cent – much more than any other party – and is now polling 30 per cent. This book, first published in Italy before Meloni came to power, avoids virtually all mention of Mussolini and fascism – which I understand, but I think is a mistake. Meloni should have spelled out why she and her party, despite their roots, are conservative. She might have written more, too, on how she has been inspired by the late Roger Scruton – whom she calls 'the prince of British conservative thought'. And she could have outlined the key differences between conservatism and fascism, which are too often falsely lumped together, owing to the still dominant Marxist view of fascism as a bourgeois counter-revolution. I would also have liked more on why Meloni and the Italian right in general since the 1970s are so besotted with J.R.R. Tolkien. Why do they identify with hobbits in the idyllic little world of the Shire, while outside the mustering forces of evil prepare to engulf them? As a youth member of the post-fascist party, Meloni and her companions would stage hobbit plays in the park, in which she invariably took the role of Sam Gamgee, her favourite Tolkien character. 'He's just a hobbit – a gardener by trade. Yet without him Frodo would never have competed his mission,' she writes. Perhaps the key figure in Meloni's life is the father she barely knew, whose name – Francesco – she even refuses to write. He was an accountant and abandoned her mother Anna, her elder sister Arianna and herself when a baby. Francesco had wanted Anna to have an abortion (still illegal in Italy in 1976); but on her way to the backstreet clinic, Anna changed her mind. Meloni was born thanks only to her mother's decision to defy her father. He then sailed off in a yacht to the Canary Islands to open a restaurant. (It later emerged he received a nine-year jail sentence in 1995 for drug-running.) The two sisters would fly out to visit him in the summer holidays, but he showed them no love, and, aged 11, Meloni decided not to see him again. When he died 'a few years ago… I felt nothing', she writes. But it made her realise 'just how deep the black hole was I had buried my pain in – the pain of not being loved enough'. It was her father's emotional, not physical, abandonment that drove her rise to the top – because she would then spend her life 'competing with men (not with women), seeking their approval, friendship… all of it because of that wound'.
