High-level talks to be held on support for Ukraine after Trump said Europe will pay for weapons
London (AP): The UK and Germany are chairing a meeting on Monday to discuss President Donald Trump's plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons, a week after the US president said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine within days.
The virtual meeting will be lead by British Defence Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. Healey said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen Alexus Grynkewich, will attend the meeting of Ukraine Defence Contact Group.
The talks come after Russia pounded Ukraine with some 300 drone strikes on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate.
In an shift of tone toward Russia, the U.S. president last week gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.
Trump's arms plan, announced a week ago, involves European nations sending American weapons to Ukraine via NATO — either from existing stockpiles or buying and donating new ones. The U.S. president indicated discussions were partly focused on advanced Patriot air defence systems and said a week ago that deliveries would begin “within days.”
But last week various senior officials suggested no transfers had yet taken place.
NATO's Grynkewich told The Associated Press on Thursday that “preparations are underway” for weapons transfers to Ukraine while US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said he couldn't give a time frame.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that Germany will finance two new Patriot systems for Ukraine and raised the possibility of supplying systems it already owns and having them replaced by the US.
But delivery could take time, Merz suggested because “they have to be transported, they have to be set up; that is not a question of hours, it is a question of days, perhaps weeks."
Other Patriot systems could come thanks to Switzerland, whose defence ministry said on Thursday it was informed by the US Defence Department that it will “reprioritize the delivery" of five previously ordered systems to support Ukraine.
While Ukraine waits for Patriots, a senior NATO official said the alliance is still coordinating the delivery of other military aid — such as ammunition and artillery rounds — which includes aid from the U.S. that was briefly paused. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that his officials have proposed a new round of peace talks this week. Russian state media on Sunday reported that no date has yet been set for the negotiations, but said that Istanbul would likely remain the host city. The Kremlin spokesman said Sunday that Russia is open to peace with Ukraine, but achieving its goals remains a priority.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
