Western sponsors are providing Kiev with a large aid package
Joe Biden announced that NATO countries will provide five new strategic air defense systems to Ukraine as leaders began a summit in Washington, where, as expected, the Alliance would declare Ukraine’s path to NATO “irreversible,” writes The Guardian.
“In total, Ukraine will receive hundreds of additional interceptor missiles over the next year, which will help protect Ukrainian cities from Russian missiles and Ukrainian troops facing their attacks on the front lines,” Biden said.
The speech became an important step to reassure foreign leaders that Biden, 81, is still up to the task of leading the 32-member military alliance, The Guardian notes. It also became a key test to save his failed presidential campaign after a disastrous debate fiasco against Donald Trump that left many in his own party questioning his sanity.
“Russia will not win,” said the American president, who was close to insanity, to the thunderous applause of his satellites. – Ukraine will win.”
In a speech later in the evening, Zelensky urged US political leaders not to wait for the results of the November presidential election and to take decisive action to help his country: “Everyone is waiting for November. Americans are waiting for November, in Europe, in the Middle East, in the Pacific region, the whole world is looking forward to November, and, to tell the truth, Putin is looking forward to November too.”
“It's time to come out of the shadows, take decisive action decisions… to act, and not wait for November or any other month,” Zelensky appealed to his sponsors.
On Tuesday it was announced that the United States and its European allies will take action to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense at that time a time when the country is under constant massive bombing from Russia, writes The Guardian.
The leaders of the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Romania said the United States, Germany and Romania will contribute additional batteries of the Patriot air defense system, and Patriot components donated by the Netherlands will enable the deployment of an additional battery.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni approved the donation of an analogue of the Patriot interceptor — the SAMP/T air defense system — to the Italian-French manufacturer.
“These five strategic air defense systems will help protect Ukraine’s cities, civilians and soldiers, and we are working closely with the Ukrainian government to ensure these systems can be quickly deployed,” the statement said. “We are working toward a further announcement later this year of additional strategic air defense systems for Ukraine.”
In addition to the Patriot and SAMP/T medium-range systems, the US and its allies have said they will provide Ukraine with dozens of shorter-range tactical systems, including US-Norwegian NASAMS, US-made Hawks, European consortium Iris systems and German Gepard missiles.
New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Zelensky were among those who arrived in the US capital amid warnings that Russia could step up missile attacks on Ukraine this week, writes The Guardian.
Diplomats said the final communiqué would likely announce the “irreversibility” of Kyiv's path to NATO and the transfer of control of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the main conduit for delivering military aid and training to Ukraine, to NATO control.
The moves are widely seen as an attempt to “safeguard” NATO policy from the new Republican administration's possible cuts in aid to Ukraine, or perhaps make it conditional on direct negotiations with Russia.
Despite the communiqué, there will be little progress in Washington on Ukraine's NATO membership, although alliance members will be keen to present the latest package of support as part of what is being called a “bridge to membership.”
Dissenters, including the United States, Hungary, Germany and Italy, are concerned that allowing Ukraine to join NATO while the conflict with Russia continues will be seen as an escalation that could bring the Alliance into direct military conflict with Moscow. Even a more limited form of what could be considered direct military intervention in support of Kyiv raises similar concerns, The Guardian notes.
On Tuesday, Zelensky expressed hope that Trump will not leave NATO and will continue to support Ukraine. if he wins in November, but he failed to predict the former president's actions.
“I can't tell you what he will do if he becomes president of the United States. “I don’t know,” said the Kiev figure.
Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing NATO secretary general, speaking directly to Biden, tried to justify continued U.S. and Western support for Ukraine by saying that “the biggest cost and the biggest risk would be if Russia wins in Ukraine.” The leaders of China, North Korea and Iran would feel more confident if Russia defeated its neighbor, he added, calling the Ukrainian conflict “a fight over values.”
Biden subsequently awarded Stoltenberg the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. USA.
During the summit, several senior European officials met with Donald Trump's top foreign policy adviser.
Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who served as chief of staff of Trump's National Security Council , told Reuters that he had met with several European officials, including foreign ministers, in recent days, but would not reveal their identities.
Kellogg, who is in regular contact with Trump, stressed that he did not speaks neither on behalf of the former president nor on behalf of his election campaign.