the UK government says it remains absolutely committed to peace in Ukraine and that it’s engaging with key allies after president Trump paid US military aid to the warriors country a short while ago the EU commission president outlined her plan to strengthen Europe’s military capability saying it would help the block get immediate military equipment to Ukraine an official in Washington explained president Trump’s decision by saying the president’s been clear that he’s focused on peace we need need our.
partners to be committed to that goal as well we’re pausing and reviewing our Aid to ensure that it’s contributing to a solution well since returning to the White House president Trump’s claimed on a number of occasions that the Biden Administration gave Ukraine 350 billion dollars in military assistance BBC News has not been able to verify that figure well the US Department of Defense says the amount spent on Military assistance to Ukraine in 3 years since the Russian invasion amounts to just over 80.
billion president Trump’s move come days after that heated exchange between him and President Malinski and Vice President Vance in the Oval Office while speaking to Fox News before the military aid was paused vice president Vance said the door is open if Mr. zincky is willing to talk peace Mr. Vance also suggested that giving Washington an economic interest in the future of Ukraine would serve as a security guarantee if you want real security guarantees if if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not.
US pauses military aid to Ukraine as EU chief says Europe is ‘ready to step up’
invade Ukraine again the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine that is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years the security guarantee and also the economic guarantee for Ukraine is to rebuild the country and ensure that America has a long-term interest JT f there well Ukraine does produce some of its own Weaponry but it does rely heavily on billions of dollars of aid from overseas allies such as America and
Europe with more on all of that here’s BBC verifies Nick Harley what would a reduction in US support look like and could Europe step in to fill funding and Equipment gaps let’s look at spending first of all the US is the biggest individual spender by some margin this shows all military aid going into Ukraine in red the United States in blue every other country combined that is a huge amount of cash for Europe and other countries to find very roughly to keep the same level of spending without the US every other.
country would have to double his military support it’s a big ask when there are so many pressures on public spending for the UK that’s about 2.8 billion extra every year then there’s equipment this is a high Mars rocket launcher the US has provided 39 of these to Ukraine according to the keil Institute Think Tank European countries combined have provided 43 similar systems there are these long-range attack missiles provided by Washington there are European Alternatives like the British storm Shadows but ATT attacks.
have been important for Ukraine’s Army and then there’s ammunition a huge volume of artillery has been used in this conflict the US has sent more than 45 million rounds the EU previously missed its timetable for sending just 1 million production in Europe has increased the EU has promised 2 million rounds in 2025 but some experts have questioned whether that pledge can be met now this is some of the quantifiable support remember some of it isn’t like intelligence assistance and the debate around support for Ukraine raises other
questions about us support for NATO this was what Elon Musk said over the weekend he thinks it’s time for the US to leave the alliance and that would have a huge financial impact here we can see NATO member defense spending in red the United States in blue every other country combined if the USA reduced or even ended its funding the impact would be colossal even as European countries pledge to increase their defense spending that’s Nick relay from BBC verify there well in Ukraine itself reports suggest that the country’s
As Trump Pauses US Military Aid To Ukraine, Can
current stock pile of weapons will last another 6 months MPS have already been discussing the consequences of America pausing its military aid there our Ukraine correspondent is James Waterhouse there are ministers calling for calm there are MPS arguing that that if Ukraine is fighting for Peace fighting for its survival uh then President zillion ski should just go and sign this mineral deal should apologize should give America the repeated thank yours it seems to be calling for if it’s all in the name of Ukraine’s continued
survival but this is uh a political lever that has been most feared the last time this happened when American Aid was slowed by disagreements in the US Congress president zincky said Ukraine lost lives and land and there was a Eastern town called AV dike which was once a fortress which fell because Ukrainian soldiers partly ran out of kit uh that they needed to sustain their attack if you go to the Western border in the country there are constant com of military aid coming in under police escort they are an artery they are much
needed armor and ammunition uh needed by uh exhausted troops to keep fighting this full-scale Invasion that Russia exerts so this is this has long been feared uh uh seemingly it could be resolved in a political sense um but at the moment in in the words of one Ukrainian advocacy group you’ve got Russia that’s been given the green light to keep advancing which it is in the eastern dent region you’ve got these reports of America you know look exploring a relaxation of sanctions trying to continue to warm relations
with Moscow as it deals directly with Moscow and all of the levers and pressure is being exerted on Ukraine as it’s looking in both directions now James W house in key there well in the last hour the European commission president Ursula Von decline has been talking about a new plan to boost milady and help help Ukraine in the process we are in an era of rearmament and Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending both to respond to the short-term urgency to act and to support Ukraine but also to address the.
US Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine as EU Chief Says
long-term need to take on more responsibility for our own European security lots of reaction of of course coming in this morning to the news of America suspending military aid to Ukraine we’ve also heard from the British government now the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Raina appearing on the BBC’s today program speaking to Emma Barnett this was her reaction let’s have a listen we are focused on support for Ukraine bringing the us around the table alongside our European Partners in Ukraine we’ve put our money where our.
mouth is and stepped up our support for Ukraine through air defense through military capabilities and through the military aid we give year upon year and the Prime Minister will not conduct Dialogue on open Airwaves he will continue to do what he’s done in the last couple days you said it’s which is to bring about that peace and the US have said consistently that they want to see peace in Ukraine and the prime minister is focused on getting that peace but also has made it really clear that the peace has to be sustainable.
with security guarantees and that’s what the prime minister’s focused on that’s the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Raina there well lots to get through let’s speak to our International editor Jeremy Bowen who joins us now Jeremy loads to talk about of course let’s start with your assessment of how you think what we heard from the White House will change an already complicated picture when it comes to Global relations over the war in Ukraine well first of all the important thing to recognize is that this is really the.
US and Ukraine officials to meet next week to discuss
most serious crisis in the history of the transatlantic Alliance the transatlantic relationship since it was formed during and after the second world war it is that big why is it that big it’s essentially because the Americans are now on an opposite side to the position of the Europeans as expressed in that Summit in London over the weekend and subsequently uh of course people want peace everyone will say yeah of course I want peace countries want peace but the issue is what is the price of peace is the price of Peace as the.
Russians have said uh essentially Ukrainian capitulation and the Americans appear to be sharing a lot of talking points they’re definitely sharing a lot of talking points with uh with the Americans or is it the kind of peace that was being talked about by kit and others at the weekend as they very openly supported president Alinsky and that means that the Europeans and the British have been taking a very um high-profile role in all of this are essentially trying to execute an extraordinarily difficult Highbie act.
on the one side there’s this support that they have for Ukraine and an offer to put boots on the ground planes in the air and on the other side there’s the Americans who being rather rude about this I mean JD Vance’s comments overnight where he was saying some countries that have not fought a war for 30 years he dismissed them far better to have American Financial interests there uh so to try to sustain that Highbie act to to to somehow keep Trump happy and at the same time not sell Ukraine down the river that might actually be
impossible and Jeremy as we look at what is potentially as you say an impossible situation to work back from is the the only way.
US suspends all military aid to Ukraine in wake of Trump
the US might uh walk back on some of this if President Alinsky says sorry because that’s what some people have been speculating over or indeed if he leaves the office well yeah it is extraordinary to say but there was a time until quite recently when American foreign policy was based on a system of alliances where uh people of course America put its own interests first but where they were also shared interests
now the idea is is is Trump’s view which is American first which is essentially the rest of the world is raw material for America to do deals to get richer to be more powerful and it’s a you know it’s a throwback to Big powers in the 19th century when they would get together the British of course were one of those and uh just decide things for themselves send gunboats if necessary if not seen.
d Traders and Merchants and uh yeah so this is a really difficult serious crisis and it may well be the unraveling of that Alliance which has
lasted for so long indeed and of course we see European leaders we saw that the weekend at meeting in London for example trying to come up with some sort of plan we’ve seen that offer from France as well and the UK working with them on that is that going to have any leverage uh with the US will they sign up to that now uh well it’s hard to know um perhaps I think the the action of of suspending armed shipments is undoubtedly by the Americans a Gambit to try and get zincky to the table but let’s assuming he does.
come to the table let’s assuming he he goes to the White House or to Mara Lago cap in hand says to you know like a naughty school boy says to JD Vance or Donald Trump look I’m terribly sorry for sticking up for myself like that I won’t do it again won’t happen again and where’s that contract I want to sign it and sign away a lot of mineral rights to the American an what happens after that because when they get to the table then the situation may well be if Vladimir Putin or his people are there that they.
will say look we’ve made it very clear what happens Ukraine needs to be uh demilitarized uh we the Russians need to keep territory uh will would the Ukrainians Alinsky or some successor accept that would Europe accept that after everything it’s said about protecting Ukraine there are so many imponderables but what makes it a lot more difficult to try to solve is the the the there’s a great lack of clarity now because of trump and you can argue that in fact look the what was going on before under Biden wasn’t going to work.
U.S. Pauses Military Aid to Ukraine; Expert Warns of Major
he gave Ukraine enough weapons not to lose but not to win either because he was worried about what the Russians might do he took their nuclear threat seriously so Trump’s supporters would say he’s just being realistic and of course both sides are going to have to give something but at the moment the way the Americans are presenting it the givers are the Ukrainians and the takers are the Russians and also the Americans because of course another it’s quite clear that another big priority of Donald Trump is mending America’s.
relationship with Russia yeah and Jeremy you talk about Russia we just seeing lines coming into us from the Kremlin from the Reuters news agency one here saying if the US stops these supplies it will be the best contribution to the cause of Peace So Vladimir Putin presumably watching on um with quite a lot of Glee looking at what’s been H unfolding yeah I think for for Russia for peace read Victory uh This Is Christmas every day for them at the moment this is reflected in the things they put out on social media the way.
that the portion media uh have been crowing with delight about what’s happening and I’ve just spent a couple of weeks in Ukraine I only got back a few days ago and of course there’s consternation there about what’s happening and also I have to say from certainly soldiers I spoke to in areas near the Russian border uh who had been fighting for example in KK which is the area that the Ukrainians took from Russia uh back in last August I mean they’re quite defiant and they said well they’re going to fight on that drones.
are now such a big part of the battlefield and they are that they can get by they don’t necessarily need what the Americans have got though they do accept the losing us intelligence losing air defenses uh losing the ammo for these very sophisticated weapons they’ve been given and the satellite information they need to to acquire targets all of that is going to be very difficult for them but they are I do they do they building a lot of their own weapons and I don’t think the thing you have to remember is that for the Ukrainians this.
How will US pause on intelligence sharing affect Ukraine?
is about existence it’s not about real estate it’s not about well maybe we can do a deal give Putin some land and he’ll be satisfied they believe that Putin will never be satisfied until he’s broken Ukrainian Independence and sovereignty and certainly his own writings suggest that is very much what he wants to do Jeremy we’re hearing from some Ukrainian politicians that they believe they have and half military supplies at least for the next six months or so but you were just drawing on your experience having just returned.
from Ukraine and what we’ve seen in recent days is you know huge number of drone attacks continuing on Ukraine a reminder of course that while all these talks continue the war continues on I just wondered if I could get your assessment of how you see things going militarily uh militarily I should say given this news now as well well without American weapons it is going to be easier for the Russians no doubt about it I mean while I was in Q for example uh they had their worst um the the biggest drone attack they’d had since.
the the start of all this from the Russians the Russians have also been boasting about that on their own Outlets uh and you know for hours that night in the capital city there were you could see search lights going through the sky uh old style anti-aircraft cannon firing tracer up at these drones and you could hear the drones as well I mean I could hear the drones very clearly when I was standing on the roof of our hotel doing lives for the BBC there uh so the situation is though that both sides are actually very good at this drone Warfare.
now and the majority of casualties on both sides are being caused Now by drones the shape of the war has changed since it began when you remember there were these lines of tanks and there was old-fashioned Heavy Artillery going on it looked rather like World War II or world War one even uh it’s different now because these drones are transforming things they’re absolutely deadly and they make the they make even movement on the battlefield incredibly dangerous and difficult.
