Latest news with #RussiaInvasion
Bloomberg
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Ukraine Doesn't Need a Recovery. It Needs a Rescue
There's something unreal about the Ukraine recovery conference that got underway in Rome Thursday morning. As Russia fired more than 730 long-range drones and missiles at targets across its neighbor on Tuesday, a record, and a further 400-plus overnight, it's a rescue conference that Kyiv needs right now. Without security, there won't be a recovery to fund. This is the fourth such jamboree of well-intentioned international leaders and donors. But it takes place at a moment when the international support that enabled the country to fight off Russia's invasion has faltered and prospects for peace have receded. Only German Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged the elephant in the room: Donald Trump. 'Stay with us,' he exhorted the US president. With reduced US resources to bolster Ukraine's defenses, how much will have to be rebuilt is changing by the day. How much will remain in Ukrainian hands for reconstruction is just as uncertain. Russian forces continue to make territorial gains, while President Vladimir Putin has made clear his appetite runs even further than the four partly conquered provinces of Ukraine that he already declared part of Russia back in 2022. You could hear the desperation Wednesday night in the voices of Ukrainians assembled to press their case at a pre-conference dinner arranged by the Pinchuk Foundation, named after the billionaire Ukrainian businessman who funds it, but most of all in comments from Trump's special envoy for Ukraine. Keith Kellogg, a retired US Army lieutenant general, choked with emotion as he did his best to deliver the administration's message. We're closer than you think to World War III; the killing has to stop, he said. But then, he went on, 'you can't quit.' 'We have an obligation in the West to make sure this has not been in vain,' Kellogg said. 'Do you want to be on the right side of history or not. Do you want to be on the moral side of history, or not.' What Kellogg said was clearly heartfelt, but to whom was he speaking? The Ukrainians are already doing all the fighting and are very clear about which side of history they're on. The Europeans are trying, but their conduct of a foreign policy is like herding cats. They're also probably a decade behind having the defense-production capabilities that would be needed to fill the void the US has created, as even previously authorized aid flows are turned on and off. Or could it be that Kellogg was addressing Trump, as his absent boss wrestles with the realization that he has been played by Putin? There is a vital role for donor conferences, including post-war recovery plans, because Russia's invasion of Ukraine won't end in any definitive way unless the country is overrun. Putin would otherwise continue trying to turn what remains of independent Ukraine into a failed state. That makes it critical to show the commitment and resources are there to make those efforts fail. Even so, the leaders' summit that's really needed right now would thrash out a joint allied strategy to persuade Putin he has nothing to gain by continuing the war. Ukraine first of all needs more air defense, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in Rome on Thursday. Trump just seemingly reversed his administration's decision to halt a shipment of 30 patriot missiles, but he can and should start authorizing new interceptor deliveries of his own, rather than just interfering with those authorized by his predecessor. Europe, meanwhile, just clapped itself on the back for committing to spend 5% of gross domestic product on defense by 2035. Most countries, with a few honorable Nordic exceptions, have spent well under 1% on helping Ukraine since Putin's full invasion started in February 2022. For Germany and Thursday's host, Italy, that figure is 0.4% of GDP, according to a detailed tracker run by Germany's Kiel Institute for the World Economy. For the US, it's 0.56% of GDP. So the money is there. After air defenses, it's mostly money that's needed. The Ukrainian defense industry has the capacity this year to produce $35 billion worth of arms, from drones and artillery shells, to mobile howitzers and ballistic missiles, but a budget for only $12 billion, Oleksandr Kamyshin, Zelenskiy's strategic affairs adviser, told me. How to find the funds and additional air defense systems to weather Putin's missile barrages should be the primary goal of every international meeting aimed at helping Ukraine until it's achieved. 'As long as it takes,' that favorite phrase of European leaders to demonstrate their commitment to Ukraine, must become 'as fast as possible.' Passing the enhanced Russia sanctions package that's been waiting in Congress for Trump's green light would be a great place to start, but there's no hiding that Europe will need to pick up moreof the burden. 'I understand that democracies take time,' Khrystyna 'Kudrava' a national guard officer dealing with drones and electronic warfare, told the guests at the elegant Hassler Hotel atop the Spanish Steps Wednesday night. 'But Ukrainians can't hold the line forever. It is your time now, Europeans.' She was right, except that it's Trump's time, too. More From Bloomberg Opinion:
Bloomberg
08-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
EU Weighs €100 Billion Fund for Ukraine in Next Budget Proposal
The European Union is considering setting up a €100 billion ($117 billion) fund to support Ukraine as its war with Russia following Moscow's full-scale invasion shows no signs of ending. The money may become part of the EU's proposal for its next seven-year budget, which is due to be presented later this month, according to people familiar with the matter. If accepted by member states as part of budgetary negotiations, the funding would start being disbursed in 2028 to maintain steady financial assistance to the war-torn country, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The U.S. Is Switching Sides
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Updated at 7:20 a.m. ET on July 4, 2025 The American president wrote, 'Vladimir, STOP!' on his Truth Social account in April, but the Russian president did not halt his offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian president called for an unconditional cease-fire in May, but the Russians did not agree to stop attacking Ukrainian civilians from the air. Donald Trump repeatedly promised, during his campaign, that he would end the war 'in one day,' but the war is not over. He spoke to Vladimir Putin yesterday, and Putin responded with more drones and missiles than ever before. This morning, parts of Kyiv are burning. The invasion of Ukraine does not merely continue. It accelerates. Almost every night, the Russians destroy more of Ukraine from the air: apartment buildings, factories, infrastructure, and people. On the ground, Ukraine's top commander has said that the Russians are preparing a new summer offensive, with 695,000 troops spread across the front line. Russian soldiers also continue to be wounded or killed at extraordinary rates, with between 35,000 and 45,000 casualties every month, while billions of dollars' worth of Russian equipment are destroyed every week by Ukrainian drones. The Russian economy suffers from high inflation and is heading for a recession. But Putin is not looking for a cease-fire, and he does not want to negotiate. Why? Because he believes that he can win. Thanks to the actions of the U.S. government, he still thinks that he can conquer all of Ukraine. Putin sees what everyone else sees: Slowly, the U.S. is switching sides. True, Trump occasionally berates Putin, or makes sympathetic noises toward Ukrainians, as he did last week when he seemed to express interest in a Ukrainian journalist who said that her husband was in the military. Trump also appeared to enjoy being flattered at the NATO summit, where European leaders made a decision, hailed as historic, to further raise defense spending. But thanks to quieter decisions by members of his own administration, people whom he has appointed, the American realignment with Russia and against Ukraine and Europe is gathering pace—not merely in rhetoric but in reality. [Read: Putin isn't actually enjoying this] Just this week, in the middle of the worst aerial-bombing campaign since the war began, the Trump administration confirmed that a large shipment of weapons, which had already been funded by the Biden administration, will not be sent to Ukraine. The weapons, some of which are already in Poland, include artillery shells, missiles, rockets, and, most important, interceptors for Patriot air-defense systems, the ammunition that Ukrainians need to protect civilians from missile attacks. Trump had suggested that he would supply Ukraine with more Patriot ammunition, which is an American product. 'We're going to see if we can make some available,' he said after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week. But what he says and what his administration actually does are very different. Pentagon spokespeople have explained that this abrupt change was made because American stockpiles are insufficient, an excuse disputed both by former Biden-administration officials and by independent policy analysts. But whether true or false, this reasoning doesn't matter to the Russians, who have already interpreted this change as a clear signal that American support for Ukraine is ending: 'The fewer the number of weapons that are delivered to Ukraine, the closer the end of the special military operation,' the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. To be clear, by 'the end of the special military operation,' he means the defeat of Ukraine. At the same time, and with much less publicity, the U.S. is essentially lifting sanctions on Russia. No such formal announcement has been made. But the maintenance of sanctions requires constant shifts and adjustments, as Russian companies and other entities change suppliers and tactics in order to acquire sanctioned products. During the Biden administration, I spoke several times with officials who followed these changes closely, and who repeatedly issued new sanctions in order to counter them. As The New York Times has reported, the Trump administration has stopped following these shifts and stopped imposing new sanctions altogether. This, the Times writes, allows 'new dummy companies to funnel funds and critical components to Russia, including computer chips and military equipment.' In addition to taking Russia's side in the kinetic war and the economic war, the U.S. is realigning its position in the narrative war, too. During the Biden administration, the State Department's Global Engagement Center regularly identified Russian disinformation operations around the world—exposing misleading websites or campaigns secretly run or directed by Russian operatives in Latin America and Africa, as well as in Europe. Trump appointees have not only dissolved the center; they also baselessly and bizarrely accused it of somehow harming American conservatives, even of having 'actively silenced and censored the voices of Americans,' although the GEC had no operations inside the U.S. At the same time, cuts to USAID and other programs have abruptly reduced funding for some independent media and Russian-opposition media. The planned cuts to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, if not stopped by the courts, will destroy one of the few outside sources of information that reaches Russians with real news about the war. Should all of these changes become permanent, the U.S. will no longer have any tools available to communicate with the Russian public or counter Russian propaganda, either inside Russia or around the world. [Listen: Trump's betrayal of Ukraine] Inside the United States, Russian propaganda is most loudly and effectively promoted by appointees of the U.S. president. Steve Witkoff, the real-estate developer who became Trump's main negotiator with Russia despite having no knowledge of Russian history or politics, regularly echoes false Russian talking points and propaganda. He has repeated Putin's view, which he may have heard from the Russian president himself, that 'Ukraine is just a false country, that they just patched together in this sort of mosaic, these regions.' Witkoff has also seemed to agree with Putin that Ukrainian territories that voted for independence from Moscow in 1991 are somehow 'Russian.' By accepting disputed claims as fact, Witkoff is also helping Putin continue his war. In order to keep Russians onboard, to create divisions among Ukraine's allies, and maybe even to build doubts inside Ukraine itself, Putin needs to portray the Ukrainian cause as hopeless and to describe the Ukrainian 'demands' as unreasonable. He has to hide the most basic facts about this war: that he began it, that he has killed hundreds of thousands of people in pursuit of it, and that his goal, again, is to destroy or decapitate all of Ukraine. Witkoff helps make these falsehoods easier to sustain, in Russia, in the U.S., and in Europe. Add all of these things together, and they are something more than just a pattern. They are a set of incentives that help persuade Putin to keep fighting. Sanctions are disappearing, weapons are diminishing, counterpropaganda is harder to hear. All of that will encourage Putin to go further—not just to try to defeat Ukraine but to divide Europe, mortally damage NATO, and reduce the power and influence of the United States around the world. Europe, Canada, and most of the rest of the democratic world will continue to back Ukraine. As I have written before, Ukrainians will continue to innovate, to build new kinds of automated weapons, new drones, new software. They will continue to fight, because the alternative is the end of their civilization, their language, and, for many of them, their lives. The Ukrainians could still win. A different set of American policies could help them win faster. The U.S. could still expand sanctions on Russia, provide ammunition, and help the Ukrainians win the narrative war. The administration could stop the fighting, the missile attacks, and the lethal drone swarms; it could stop the pointless deaths that Trump has repeatedly said he opposes. By choosing to back Russia, the U.S. will ensure that the war continues. Only by backing Ukraine is there hope for peace. Article originally published at The Atlantic
LBCI
02-07-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Ukraine military says has not been notified of any U.S. aid suspension
The Ukrainian defense ministry said Wednesday it had not received advanced notice of reductions to U.S. arms shipments and said ending Russia's invasion required "consistent" support. "Ukraine has not received any official notifications about the suspension or revision of the delivery schedules for the agreed defense assistance," the ministry said in a statement. "We emphasize that the path to ending the war lies through consistent and joint pressure on the aggressor, as well as through continued support for Ukraine," it added. AFP
Arab News
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
German FM visits Kyiv, pledges continued support for Ukraine
KYIV: German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, in a show of continuing support for Ukraine's fight to repel Russia's invasion as US-led international peace efforts fail to make was due to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii said in a statement that Germany will help Ukraine 'continue to defend itself successfully — with modern air defense and other weapons, with humanitarian and economic aid.'Germany has been Ukraine's second-largest military backer after the United States, whose continuing support is in Berlin has balked at granting Zelensky's request to provide Ukraine with powerful German- and Swedish-made Taurus long-range missiles. That's due to fears that such a move could enrage the Kremlin and end up drawing NATO into Europe's biggest conflict since World War 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 was accompanied on his trip to Kyiv by German defense industry invasion shows no sign of letting up. Its grinding war of attrition along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line and long-range strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine have killed thousands of troops and Russian effort to capture more Ukrainian territory has been costly in terms of casualties and damaged armor. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has effectively rejected a ceasefire and hasn't budged from his war 'doesn't want negotiations, but (Ukrainian) capitulation,' Wadephul said in his 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.
