European countries vow billions in military support for Ukraine as US
envoy meets Putin
[April 12, 2025]
By LORNE COOK
BRUSSELS (AP) — European countries vowed Friday to sends billions of
dollars in further funding to help Ukraine keep fighting Russia’s
invasion, as a U.S. envoy pursued peace efforts in a trip to meet with
Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing questions about the
Kremlin’s willingness to stop the more than three-year war.
Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its
fourth year. Ukraine has endorsed a U.S. ceasefire proposal, but Russia
has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions. European
governments have accused Putin of dragging his feet.
“Russia has to get moving” on the road to ending the war, U.S. President
Donald Trump posted on social media. He said the war is “terrible and
senseless.”
In Russia, the Kremlin said Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin
in St. Petersburg. Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept
a truce, initially met with Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, footage
released by Russian media showed.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Witkoff during his
visit to Russia was discussing efforts to end the war with Putin and
other officials. “This is another step in the negotiating process
towards a ceasefire and an ultimate peace deal,” she said.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Witkoff's meeting with Putin
lasted 4 1/2 hours, and cited the Kremlin as saying that the two
discussed “aspects" of ending the war, without providing any details.
After chairing a meeting of Ukraine's Western backers in Brussels,
British Defense Secretary John Healey said that new pledges of military
aid totaled over 21 billion euros ($24 billion), “a record boost in
military funding for Ukraine, and we are also surging that support to
the frontline fight.”
Healey gave no breakdown of that figure, and Ukraine has in the past
complained that some countries repeat old offers at such pledging
conferences or fail to deliver real arms and ammunition worth the money
they promise.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that Ukraine’s backers
have provided around $21 billion so far in the first three months of
this year. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Friday
that more than $26 billion have been committed.
Ahead of the “contact group” meeting at NATO headquarters, Ukrainian
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his
country’s air defenses.
Standing alongside Healey at the end of it, Umerov described the meeting
as “productive, effective and efficient,” and said that it produced “one
of the largest” packages of assistance Ukraine has received. “We’re
thankful to each nation that has provided this support,” he said.
Britain said that in a joint effort with Norway just over $580 million
would be spent to provide hundreds of thousands of military drones,
radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance
contracts to keep Ukrainian armored vehicles on the battlefield.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more
Patriot systems since 20 people were killed a week ago, including nine
children, when a Russian missile tore through apartment buildings and
blasted a playground in his home town.
Zelenskyy joined Friday's meeting by video link.
[to top of second column]
|
Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, Ukraine's Defense
Minister Rustem Umerov, second from left, and Germany's Defense
Minister Boris Pistorius, right, arrive for a meeting of the Ukraine
Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday,
April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Russia holds off agreeing to ceasefire
The Russian delay in accepting Washington's proposal has frustrated
Trump and fueled doubts about whether Putin really wants to stop the
fighting while his bigger army has momentum on the battlefield.
“Russia continues to use bilateral talks with the United States to
delay negotiations about the war in Ukraine, suggesting that the
Kremlin remains uninterested in serious peace negotiations to end
the war,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think
tank, said in an assessment late Thursday.
Washington remains committed to securing a peace deal, even though
four weeks have passed since it made its ceasefire proposals, State
Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
“It is a dynamic that will not be solved militarily. It is a meat
grinder,” Bruce said Thursday about the war, adding that “nothing
else can be discussed … until the shooting and the killing stops.”
Observers expect a new Russian offensive
Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia is
preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in coming weeks to
ramp up pressure and strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in the
negotiations.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that his country would
provide Ukraine with four IRIS-T short- to medium-range systems with
missiles, as well as 30 missiles for use on Patriot batteries. The
Netherlands plans to supply a Hawkeye air defense system, an
airborne early warning aircraft.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said that his country is
monitoring the world armaments market and sees opportunities for
Ukraine’s backers to buy more weapons and ammunition.
Pevkur said he believes Putin might try to reach some kind of
settlement with Ukraine by May 9 — the day that Russia marks victory
during World War II — making it even more vital to strengthen Kyiv’s
position now.
“This is why we need to speed up the deliveries as quickly as we
can,” he said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was absent from the forum that the
United States created and led for several years, although he spoke
via video.
At the last contact group meeting in February, Hegseth warned
Ukraine’s European backers that the U.S. now has priorities
elsewhere — in Asia and on America’s own borders — and that they
would have to take care of their own security, and that of Ukraine,
in future.
___
Associated Press writers Lolita Baldor, Michelle L. Price and Aamer
Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
