{"id":11192,"date":"2025-04-11T16:38:46","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T16:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/11192\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T16:38:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T16:38:46","slug":"european-countries-vow-billions-in-military-support-for-ukraine-as-us-envoy-meets-putin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/11192\/","title":{"rendered":"European countries vow billions in military support for Ukraine as US envoy meets Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 European countries vowed Friday to sends billions of dollars in further funding to help Ukraine keep fighting Russia\u2019s invasion<\/a>, as a U.S. envoy pursued peace efforts in a trip to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing questions about the Kremlin\u2019s willingness to stop the more than three-year war.<\/p>\n

Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its fourth year. Ukraine has endorsed a U.S. ceasefire proposal<\/a>, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions. European governments have accused Putin of dragging his feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia has to get moving\u201d on the road to ending the war, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media. He said the war is \u201cterrible and senseless.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Flags<\/p>\n

Flags of the Alliance members flap in the wind prior to a coalition of the willing defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo\/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)<\/p>\n

Flags of the Alliance members flap in the wind prior to a coalition of the willing defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo\/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)<\/p>\n

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In Russia, the Kremlin said Trump\u2019s envoy Steve Witkoff<\/a> was meeting 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.<\/p>\n

After chairing a meeting of Ukraine\u2019s Western backers in Brussels, British Defense Secretary John Healey said that new pledges of military aid totaled over 21 billion euros ($24 billion), \u201ca record boost in military funding for Ukraine, and we are also surging that support to the frontline fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Britain's<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Defense Secretary John Healey, left, talks with Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Defense Secretary John Healey, left, talks with Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: European countries vow billions in military support for Ukraine as US envoy meets Putin\n <\/p>\n

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports Britain announces more support for Ukraine\u2019s fight against Russia.<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that Ukraine\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the \u201ccontact group\u201d meeting at NATO headquarters, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his country\u2019s air defenses. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Ukraine's<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, right, talks with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, right, talks with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)<\/p>\n

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Standing alongside Healey at the end of it, Umerov described the meeting as \u201cproductive, effective and efficient,\u201d and said that it produced \u201cone of the largest\u201d packages of assistance Ukraine has received. \u201cWe\u2019re thankful to each nation that has provided this support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> has renewed his appeals for more Patriot systems<\/a> since 20 people were killed a week ago, including nine children, when a Russian missile<\/a> tore through apartment buildings and blasted a playground in his home town.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy joined Friday\u2019s meeting by video link.<\/p>\n

Russia holds off agreeing to ceasefire<\/p>\n

The Russian delay in accepting Washington\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia 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,\u201d the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment late Thursday.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a dynamic that will not be solved militarily. It is a meat grinder,\u201d Bruce said Thursday about the war, adding that \u201cnothing else can be discussed \u2026 until the shooting and the killing stops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Observers expect a new Russian offensive<\/p>\n

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\u2019s hand in the negotiations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Germany's<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, left, talks as he sits next to German Inspector General of the Armed Forces Carsten Breuer during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, left, talks as he sits next to German Inspector General of the Armed Forces Carsten Breuer during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)<\/p>\n

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Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said that his country is monitoring the world armaments market and sees opportunities for Ukraine\u2019s backers to buy more weapons and ammunition.<\/p>\n

Pevkur said he believes Putin might try to reach some kind of settlement with Ukraine by May 9 \u2014 the day that Russia marks victory during World War II \u2014 making it even more vital to strengthen Kyiv\u2019s position now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we need to speed up the deliveries as quickly as we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was absent from the forum that the United States created and led for several years, although he spoke via video.<\/p>\n

At the last contact group meeting<\/a> in February, Hegseth warned Ukraine\u2019s European backers that the U.S. now has priorities elsewhere \u2014 in Asia and on America\u2019s own borders \u2014 and that they would have to take care of their own security, and that of Ukraine, in future.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writers Lolita Baldor and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRUSSELS (AP) \u2014 European countries vowed Friday to sends billions of dollars in further funding to help Ukraine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[7665,7668,7667,32,2000,299,4179,7666,2819,2596,7664,2992,602,285,332,7659,7661,7070,7663,657,7662,49,5213,333,2601,7660,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-11192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-belgium-government","9":"tag-boris-pistorius","10":"tag-dmitry-peskov","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-hanno-pevkur","16":"tag-john-healey","17":"tag-kaja-kallas","18":"tag-kirill-dmitriev","19":"tag-mark-rutte","20":"tag-pete-hegseth","21":"tag-politics","22":"tag-russia","23":"tag-russia-government","24":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","25":"tag-steve-witkoff","26":"tag-tammy-bruce","27":"tag-ukraine","28":"tag-ukraine-government","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-united-states-government","31":"tag-vladimir-putin","32":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","33":"tag-war-and-unrest","34":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114320317666377248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}