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Kremlin welcomes US choice to droop navy assist to Ukraine, requires lifting of sanctions
Pjotr Sauer
Pjotr Sauer is a Russian affairs reporter for the Guardian
The Kremlin on Tuesday welcomed the US pause in navy assist to Ukraine, claiming it may push Kyiv to the negotiating desk.
“If that is true, then it’s a choice that would genuinely push the Kyiv regime in the direction of a peace course of,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov advised journalists. “This might most likely be the very best contribution to the reason for peace,” he added.
Peskov stated he anticipated European nations to attempt to “compensate” for the shortfall in US ammunition provides. “However, after all, the principle quantity has nonetheless been coming from the US, via US channels,” he stated.
Moscow additionally welcomed media studies that the US is contemplating a plan for doable sanctions aid for Russia.
“Our place on sanctions is well-known – we contemplate them unlawful,” Peskov stated. “In fact, if we’re speaking about normalising bilateral relations, they have to be free of this unfavorable burden of so-called sanctions.”
Reuters reported on Monday that the US was drawing up a plan to probably ease sanctions on Russia as president Donald Trump seeks to revive ties with Moscow and finish the conflict in Ukraine.
Key occasions
Prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, has stated any US finish to navy assist to Ukraine places using Patriot air defence programs in danger. Reuters studies he stated that there have been dangers over repairs, upkeep and provides of munitions for the Patriots, and that they’re the one system Ukraine has that’s able to repelling Russian ballistic missile strikes.
Simply to notice that what Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk has stated there, that his data is that the US has already carried out a call to stop navy assist to Ukraine, contrasts with noises coming from Ukraine itself.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, on its official Telegram channel, simply quoted prime minister Denys Shmyhal saying “there is no such thing as a data that something has been stopped.”
Tusk: US choice to droop navy assist places ‘Europe, Ukraine, Poland in a tougher state of affairs’

Jakub Krupa
“Please fasten your seatbelts, we’re getting into a turbulence zone, one may say” Polish prime minister Donald Tusk stated as we speak whereas opening a gathering of the Polish cupboard in Warsaw.
In his opening remarks, Tusk warned of “unprecedented” dangers dealing with Europe, together with “the most important in the previous few many years in the case of safety”. He urged ministers in his coalition authorities to place celebration variations apart as he anticipated the necessity to make “extraordinary” selections.
“As you realize, a call was introduced to droop the US assist for Ukraine, and maybe begin lifting sanctions on Russia. We don’t have any cause to assume these are simply phrases,” he stated.
He added that the studies he was getting from the Polish-Ukrainian border and the Polish logistics hub in Rzeszów-Jasionka, used for provides for Ukraine, confirmed that the US choice to droop navy assist to Ukraine had been carried out.
“This places Europe, Ukraine, Poland in a tougher state of affairs that we now must face,” he stated.
He stated Poland was decided to “intensify actions in Europe to extend our defence capabilities, whereas additionally taking care, regardless of of what’s occurring, of the very best transatlantic relations and cooperation with our closest ally, the US.”
Within the UK, chancellor Rachel Reeves is predicted to present a speech this afternoon during which she’s going to promise to “fireplace up Britain’s industrial base” as a part of plans to extend the nation’s defence spending.
PA Media report she’s going to say “For too lengthy politicians of all stripes have ducked and dodged the selections wanted to fireside up Britain’s industrial base and unleash its potential to maintain the nation secure. We’re altering that by rising defence spending and making defence a cornerstone of our industrial technique.”
The transfer comes as European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a plan to bolster Europe’s defence business and improve its navy functionality, which she claimed may increase practically €800bn (£660bn / $841bn) and assist present pressing navy help for Ukraine.
Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s defence secretary, has additionally reacted to the US choice to droop navy assist to Ukraine. He stated “There are some issues that the Ukrainians are fully depending on with reference to the Individuals. These embody the missiles used within the Patriot air defence system, which is American. So it will put Europe in a state of affairs the place we now really want to do extra ourselves to assist Ukraine.”
Nataliya Gumenyuk, Ukrainian journalist and CEO of the Public Curiosity Journalism Lab, writes for the Guardian as we speak.
You’ll be able to learn her views right here: Even after the White Home ambush and now Trump’s navy pause, Ukrainians are defiant, however need a path to peace
Europe ‘able to step up’ and improve defence spending, von der Leyen says

Jon Henley
Jon Henley is the Guardian’s Europe correspondent, based mostly in Paris
A five-part plan to bolster Europe’s defence business and improve its navy functionality may increase practically €800bn and assist present pressing navy help for Ukraine after the US suspended assist to Kyiv, the pinnacle of the European Fee has stated.
Ursula von der Leyen stated on Tuesday the 27-member bloc would suggest giving member states extra fiscal area for defence investments, in addition to €150bn in loans for these investments, and would additionally goal to mobilise personal capital.
Presenting the “ReArm Europe” bundle in Brussels, von der Leyen stated: “It is a second for Europe, and we’re able to step up.” The proposals “may mobilise near €800bn of defence expenditures for a secure and resilient Europe”, she added.
“A brand new period is upon us,” the fee president wrote to EU leaders. “Europe faces a transparent and current hazard on a scale that none of us has seen in our grownup lifetime … We live in essentially the most momentous and harmful of occasions.”
The fee’s plan contains €150bn of latest joint EU borrowing that will be lent to EU governments to fund pan-European capabilities in areas resembling air and missile defence, artillery programs, missiles, ammunition, drones and different wants.
“It should assist member states to pool demand and to purchase collectively. It will scale back prices, scale back fragmentation, improve interoperability and strengthen our defence industrial base,” von der Leyen stated.
“With this gear, member states can massively step up their help to Ukraine. So, quick navy gear for Ukraine,” she added.
Learn Jon Henley’s full report right here: EU plan to bolster Europe’s defences may increase €800bn for Ukraine
Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk has posted to social media to say that Poland is safer if Ukraine is “sovereign, pro-western, and capable of defend itself towards Russian aggression.”
He wrote:
A sovereign Ukraine, pro-western, and capable of defend itself towards Russian aggression means a stronger and safer Poland. Within the political turmoil and rising chaos, that is what counts most. Whoever questions this apparent fact contributes to Putin’s triumph. Perceive?
Kremlin welcomes US choice to droop navy assist to Ukraine, requires lifting of sanctions

Pjotr Sauer
Pjotr Sauer is a Russian affairs reporter for the Guardian
The Kremlin on Tuesday welcomed the US pause in navy assist to Ukraine, claiming it may push Kyiv to the negotiating desk.
“If that is true, then it’s a choice that would genuinely push the Kyiv regime in the direction of a peace course of,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov advised journalists. “This might most likely be the very best contribution to the reason for peace,” he added.
Peskov stated he anticipated European nations to attempt to “compensate” for the shortfall in US ammunition provides. “However, after all, the principle quantity has nonetheless been coming from the US, via US channels,” he stated.
Moscow additionally welcomed media studies that the US is contemplating a plan for doable sanctions aid for Russia.
“Our place on sanctions is well-known – we contemplate them unlawful,” Peskov stated. “In fact, if we’re speaking about normalising bilateral relations, they have to be free of this unfavorable burden of so-called sanctions.”
Reuters reported on Monday that the US was drawing up a plan to probably ease sanctions on Russia as president Donald Trump seeks to revive ties with Moscow and finish the conflict in Ukraine.
Poland’s overseas ministry: US choice to droop navy assist to Ukraine taken with out consulting or informing allies
Poland’s overseas ministry has stated that the choice by the Trump administration to droop US navy assist to Ukraine was taken with out session with allies.
Reuters studies that in a press release spokesperson Paweł Wroński stated “It is a essential choice, and the state of affairs may be very critical. This sentence could sound banal, nevertheless it has nice political significance – it (the choice) was made with none data, or session, neither with Nato allies, nor with the Ramstein group, which is concerned in supporting Ukraine in its battle.”
The Kremlin has stated that if the US is absolutely suspending navy assist to Ukraine, that would drive Kyiv into peace negotiations.
Throughout his common each day briefing, Tass studies Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov additionally stated that any normalising of relations between Russia and the US would require financial sanctions to be lifted, and that the best contribution to peace the US may make could be to cease sponsoring Ukraine.
Czech PM Fiala: ‘We can not permit Russia’s aggressive coverage to succeed’
The Czech Republic’s prime minister Petr Fiala has referred to as for a “basic shift” in European coverage in response to Donald Trump’s choice to droop navy assist to Ukraine.
In a submit to social media, he stated:
President Trump’s choice highlights the pressing want for a basic shift in Europe’s present coverage.
We should strengthen our financial and navy capabilities and take full accountability for our personal safety. This requires elevated funding in defence. Making certain our safety additionally means intensifying our help for Ukraine. We can not permit Russia’s aggressive coverage, which threatens us all, to succeed.
The period of counting on others to handle basic worldwide challenges on our behalf is over. Now’s the time for Europe to maneuver decisively from phrases to motion.