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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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
