RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin used their final meeting Thursday to press the incoming Trump administration to not give up on Kyiv’s fight, warning that to cease military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”
“We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,” Zelensky said. “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased of the map.”
Austin also announced the US would send another $500 million in security assistance to Ukraine, including missiles for fighter jets, sustainment equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems and small arms and ammunition.
The weapons are funded through presidential drawdown authority, meaning they can be pulled directly from US stockpiles, and the Pentagon is pushing to get them into Ukraine before the end of the month.
This latest package leaves about $3.85 billion in funding to provide future arms shipments to Ukraine; if the Biden administration makes no further announcements, that balance will be available to President-elect Donald Trump to send if he chooses.
“If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,” Austin told the approximately 50 member nations who have been meeting over the last three years to coordinate weapons and military support for Ukraine. “If autocrats conclude that democracies will lose their nerve, surrender their interests, and forget their principles, we will only see more land grabs. If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war.”
Austin leaves a consortium that now has more than a half dozen independent coalitions of those countries who are focused on Ukraine’s longer-term security capabilities and who have committed to continuing to stand up those needs through 2027.
Globally, countries including the US have ramped up domestic weapons production as the Ukraine war exposed that all of those stockpiles were woefully unprepared for a major conventional land war.
The US has provided about $66 billion of the total aid since February 2022 and has been able to deliver most of that total — between 80 percent and 90 percent — already to Ukraine.
“Retreat will only provide incentives for more imperial aggression,” Austin told the group. “And if we flinch, you can count on Putin to push further and punch harder. Ukraine’s survival is on the line. But so is the security of Europe, the United States, and the world.”

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his recent criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave “very serious and shameful.”

In a yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide, Francis appeared to reference deaths caused by winter cold in Gaza, where there is almost no electricity.

“We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians,” the text said.

“We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country’s energy network has been hit.”

The pope, 88, who was present for the address but asked an aide to read it as he is recovering from a cold, also condemned anti-Semitism; called for an end to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts around the world; and expressed concern over climate change.

The comments were part of an address to Vatican-accredited envoys from some 184 countries that is sometimes called the pope’s “state of the world” speech. The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See was among those present for the event.

Francis, leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts.

But he has recently been more outspoken about Israel’s military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas, and has suggested the global community should study whether the offensive constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.

An Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff in December for that suggestion.

The pope’s text said he condemns anti-Semitism, and called the growth of anti-Semitic groups “a source of deep concern.”

Francis also called for an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has killed tens of thousands.

“My wish for the year 2025 is that the entire international community will work above all to end the conflict that, for almost three years now, has caused so much bloodshed,” he said.

The pope also addressed conflicts in places including Sudan, Mozambique, Myanmar, and Nicaragua and reiterated his frequent calls for action to confront the impacts of global climate change, and the spread of misinformation on social media.