Kiev and its allies fear that if Donald Trump were to retake the White House, US military assistance would be curtailed as Ukraine faces its third winter of war and battlefield casualties in the east.
Prior to the US elections, US President Joe Biden made a farewell trip to Germany and urged NATO members to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
Western partners need to “maintain our support… until Ukraine wins a just and sustainable peace,” according to Biden’s statement on Friday.
“We have a really challenging winter ahead of us. We can’t give up.”
According to Seoul’s spy service, North Korea has made the decision to send a “large-scale” troop deployment to help Moscow’s war, which is another concerning move for Ukraine. It stated that 1,500 special forces were receiving training in eastern Russia already.
Biden first met Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his one-day tour, and then he had four-way meetings with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted his “victory plan” to NATO and the European Union on Thursday, but his friends have refused to grant his request to join NATO immediately.
Additionally, Ukraine’s demands for permission to use donated long-range weapons against targets within Russia have been denied by Washington and London. Berlin declined to deploy its own Taurus long-range missile system.
“We are supporting Ukraine as powerfully as we can,” stated Scholz. “And at the same time we are making sure that NATO does not become a party to the war, so that this war does not turn into an even bigger catastrophe.”
cries for a truce in Gaza
Since Russia began its campaign on Ukraine in 2022, the United States has been by far the country providing the country with the most military aid. The next-largest provider is Germany.
Foreign cities, including Paris and London, expressed alarm on Friday at the rumor that North Korean forces were preparing to support the Russian military effort.
The French Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, Christophe Lemoine, said, “the increase in cross-cooperation and military support from North Korea to the Russian war effort in Ukraine is very worrying.”
“If this is true, then to me it looks more like an act of desperation than anything else,” Starmer remarked during a speech at the British consulate in Berlin.
The Israeli conflict on Gaza was the second main topic of discussion. Biden and other speakers expressed optimism that the killing of Hamas political leader Yahya Sinwar by Israel would spark fresh impetus for a truce in the Palestinian enclave.
Biden, a staunch supporter of Tel Aviv, described Sinwar’s death as a “moment of justice” and claimed he was thought to be the mastermind of the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was urged by the US president to “also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in Gaza without Hamas.”
Following Sinwar’s passing, Scholz expressed optimism that “hopefully the concrete prospect will now open up for a ceasefire and an agreement to release the hostages in Gaza”; Starmer repeated this sentiment.
