NATO leaders will vow to pour weapons into Ukraine for another year, but membership is off the table

Aerial photograph showing destruction in the village of Bohorodychne in Ukraine's Donetsk region on January 27, 2024, which came under heavy attack by Russian forces in June 2022. (AFP/File)
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Updated 06 July 2024
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NATO leaders will vow to pour weapons into Ukraine for another year, but membership is off the table

  • Leaders hope to reassure Ukraine of their ongoing support and show Russia that they will not walk away
  • Fears raised over decline in support for Ukraine as Russia-leaning politicians gain ground in their respective countries

BRUSSELS: NATO leaders plan to pledge next week to keep pouring arms and ammunition into Ukraine at current levels for at least another year, hoping to reassure the war-ravaged country of their ongoing support and show Russian President Vladimir Putin that they will not walk away.
US President Joe Biden and his counterparts meet in Washington for a three-day summit beginning Tuesday to mark the military alliance’s 75th anniversary as Russian troops press their advantage along Ukraine’s eastern front in the third year of the war.
Speaking to reporters Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO’s 32 member countries have been spending around 40 billion euros ($43 billion) each year on military equipment for Ukraine since the war began in February 2022 and that this should be “a minimum baseline” going forward.
“I expect allies will decide at the summit to sustain this level within the next year,” Stoltenberg said. He said the amount would be shared among nations based on their economic growth and that the leaders will review the figure when they meet again in 2025.
NATO is desperate to do more for Ukraine but is struggling to find new ways. Already, NATO allies provide 99 percent of the military support it gets. Soon, the alliance will manage equipment deliveries. But two red lines remain: no NATO membership until the war is over, and no NATO boots on the ground there.
At their last summit, NATO leaders agreed to fast-track Ukraine’s membership process — although the country is unlikely to join for many years — and set up a high-level body for emergency consultations. Several countries promised more military equipment.
A year on, they want to put on a fresh display of unity and resolve, even as uncertainty over elections roils many of the organization’s biggest members. The possible return of Donald Trump, who undermined trust among the allies while he was the US president, is a particular concern.
But governments in France and Germany also were weakened in elections this year. Italy is led by a prime minister whose party has neo-fascist roots, while an anti-immigrant party heads a shaky coalition in the Netherlands and Spain’s Cabinet relies on small parties to rule. The UK will have a new leader.
Whoever might be in power though, it’s become clear that there’s not a lot more that NATO can do.
Lately, Stoltenberg has insisted on a long-term commitment to Ukraine. Major funding delays, notably due to political wrangling in the US Congress, have left the country’s armed forces, in his words, “to defend themselves with one hand tied on the back.”
He had hoped the allies would agree to spend at least 40 billion euros annually on weapons in a “major, multi-year” program. It does not mean an increase in support, though. The figure roughly equals what they have already spent each year since the war began.
One new initiative the leaders are likely to endorse is a mission to get the right military equipment into Ukraine and streamline training for its armed forces. In their haste to help, Western backers have inundated Ukraine with all kinds of weapons and materiel.
In the early chaos of war, anything was welcome, but the deliveries have become unmanageable — a multitude of different kinds of vehicles or defense systems that require distinct maintenance plans and dedicated supply chains to keep them running.
Offers of training programs outside Ukraine have also been abundant, indeed so prolific and different that its armed forces struggle to prioritize which troops to send, to what NATO country, and for how long.
“We’ve let a thousand flowers bloom,” conceded a senior US State Department official, but added that with a new mission, probably based in Wiesbaden, Germany, and under the likely leadership of a US general, “NATO can come in and say: We’ve got it.”
The official requested anonymity to discuss plans that had not been finalized.
Sending military equipment via this new mission would also prevent rogue governments or leaders from meddling with joint deliveries. NATO officials say the mission would complement the US-led effort to drum up arms, the so-called Ramstein group.
The US will announce new steps to strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses and military capabilities, according to a senior Biden administration official.
The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the White House, declined to detail the air defense capabilities that would be sent. But the administration signaled last month that the US will rush delivery of air defense interceptor missiles to Ukraine by redirecting planned shipments to other allied nations.
The official said members of the NATO-Ukraine Council would meet Thursday at the summit. Later that day, Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will host an event with leaders from nearly two dozen other nations who have negotiated and signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
A conundrum for NATO leaders is how to frame Ukraine’s membership prospects without letting it join. Many allies refuse to allow Ukraine in while fighting continues, concerned about being dragged into a wider war with Russia. Hungary opposes Ukraine’s membership altogether.
In the run-up to the summit, NATO envoys have been weighing the use of words such as “irreversible” to describe Ukraine’s path to membership as they tweak language that has shifted constantly since they promised in 2008 that the country would join one day.
It’s unclear how this will be accepted in Kyiv. At their last meeting, the leaders were noncommittal about timing, saying only that they would be “in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when allies agree and conditions are met.”
Zelensky described it as “unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership.” He complained that “vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine.”
In recent weeks, Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have been briefed on developments to avoid a repeat of the criticism. Stoltenberg said he and Zelensky agreed earlier this month that the new steps the leaders will take “constitute a bridge to NATO membership and a very strong package for Ukraine at the summit.”
Membership would protect Ukraine against a giant neighbor that annexed its Crimean Peninsula a decade ago and more recently seized vast swaths of land in the east and south. Before then, Kyiv must reform its security institutions, improve governance and curb corruption.
 


US State Dept denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children

Updated 7 sec ago
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US State Dept denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children

  • Department denies deleting data, says it wasn’t holding it
  • Yale research report links Putin to adoption program for deported Ukrainian children

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Wednesday denied that data collected in a government-funded program that helps track thousands of abducted Ukrainian children had been deleted, but acknowledged that the effort had been terminated as part of Washington’s sweeping freeze on almost all foreign aid.
In a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Democratic lawmakers sounded alarm that the data from the repository might have been permanently deleted.
Speaking at a daily press briefing, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said suggestions that data was deleted were false.
“The data exists,” Bruce said. “It was not in the State Department’s control. It was the people running that framework, but we know who is running the data and the website, and we know fully that the data exists and it’s not been deleted and it’s not missing.”
Bruce also suggested that President Donald Trump by bringing up the issue in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Wednesday may mean cooperation between the two countries on the topic could continue.
“The president of the most powerful country in the world, saying, I’m going to do something here... I think that’s a pretty good, clear indication that we can still work on issues that matter and make them happen without it being in a certain structure that has existed,” she said.
The research program conducted by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab was part of an effort that began under President Joe Biden to document potential violations of international law and crimes against humanity by Russia and Russia-aligned forces in its invasion of Ukraine.
The Trump administration paused the program on January 25, the unnamed State Department spokesperson said in an email, as the Republican president ordered a broad review to prevent what he says is wasteful spending of US taxpayer dollars with causes that do not align with US interests.
“Following a review, the US Department of State decided to terminate the foreign assistance award supporting the Ukraine Conflict Observatory,” a different spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the data resides on a platform owned by MITRE, a non-governmental organization that operates research and development centers, according to its website.
“To the best of MITRE’s knowledge and belief, the research data that was compiled has not been deleted and is currently maintained by a former partner on this contract,” it said in a statement.

Researches lose access
In his call with Zelensky, Trump inquired about the children who had gone missing from Ukraine during the war, including the ones that had been abducted, the White House said in a statement.
“President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home,” the White House said.
Ukraine has called the abductions of tens of thousands of its children taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory without the consent of family or guardians a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide.
Russia has said it has been evacuating people voluntarily and to protect vulnerable children from the war zone.
The decision to stop the program means researchers will lose access to a trove of information, including satellite imagery and other data, about some 30,000 children taken from Ukraine, the lawmakers said in their letter.
Last December, a report produced as a result of the research said Russian presidential aircraft and funds were used in a program that took children from occupied Ukrainian territories, stripped them of Ukrainian identity and placed them with Russian families.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for the alleged war crime of deportation of Ukrainian children.


Malaysia agrees on terms for restarting MH370 wreckage search

Updated 18 min 28 sec ago
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Malaysia agrees on terms for restarting MH370 wreckage search

  • The decision will enable commencement of seabed search operations in a new location estimated to cover 15,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has agreed to terms and conditions of an agreement with exploration firm Ocean Infinity to resume the search for the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, its transport minister said on Wednesday. Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014 in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

The decision will enable commencement of seabed search operations in a new location estimated to cover 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles) in the southern Indian Ocean, based on a “no find, no fee” principle, Minister Loke Siew Fook said.

Ocean Infinity will receive $70 million if the wreckage is successfully located, he said.

“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the MH370 passengers,” Loke said in a statement. The government in December said it had agreed in principle with Ocean Infinity’s proposal to resume the hunt for MH370. The firm had conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018 but failed on two attempts.

Those followed an underwater search by Malaysia, Australia and China in a 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq mile) area of the southern Indian Ocean, based on data of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane. A ship that will look for the missing plane was deployed to its Indian Ocean search zone late last month, ship tracking data showed, even though a deal had yet to be signed with the government.

It was not immediately clear how long the search contract with Ocean Infinity would be. Loke had previously said it would cover an 18-month period.


Pope Francis no longer using ventilation, confirmed as improving, Vatican says

Updated 19 March 2025
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Pope Francis no longer using ventilation, confirmed as improving, Vatican says

  • “The clinical conditions of the Holy Father are confirmed to be improving,” said the latest detailed medical update
  • The pope’s doctors believe his infection is under control, the Vatican press office said

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis is no longer using mechanical ventilation for help breathing at night and his doctors believe he will continue to improve, the Vatican said on Wednesday, in the latest positive update as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia.
Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for nearly five weeks for a severe respiratory infection that has required evolving treatment.
“The clinical conditions of the Holy Father are confirmed to be improving,” said the latest detailed medical update on his condition.
The pope had been using non-invasive mechanical ventilation overnight during his hospital stay, which involves placing a mask over the face to help push air into the lungs.
Such ventilation had been “suspended,” the statement said. But it said the pope is still receiving oxygen via a small hose under his nose.
The pope’s doctors believe his infection is under control, the Vatican press office said shortly after the release of the latest statement. The pope does not have a fever and his blood tests are normal, it said.
The pope has been described as being in a stable or improving condition for two weeks, but the Vatican has not yet given a timeframe for his discharge, saying his recovery is going slowly.
Francis is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
He has been receiving both respiratory physiotherapy to help with his breathing and physical therapy to help with his mobility. He has used a wheelchair in recent years due to knee and back pain.
Doctors not involved in Francis’ care said the pope is likely to face a long, fraught road to recovery, given his age and other medical conditions.


US envoy predicts Ukraine ceasefire in ‘couple of weeks’

Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy, speaks during a television interview outside the White House, Wednesday, March 19.
Updated 43 min 28 sec ago
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US envoy predicts Ukraine ceasefire in ‘couple of weeks’

  • Discussions on a possible deal to end Russia-Ukraine war will begin Monday in Saudi Arabia, Witkoff said
  • “Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue coordinating steps toward peace,” Zelensky wrote

WASHINGTON: US envoy Steve Witkoff said technical discussions on a possible deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war will begin Monday in Saudi Arabia, predicting a ceasefire agreement could come as soon as “a couple of weeks.”
“I believe on Monday we actually have the technical teams going” to the Kingdom, Witkoff told Bloomberg Television early Wednesday as he expressed confidence in ongoing negotiations following a telephone call the previous day between US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
“They agreed on a pathway to some ceasefire conditions... and to a full-on ceasefire that will be negotiated over the coming days. I actually think in a couple of weeks we’re going to get to it,” he said.
Witkoff, who is also Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, did not provide details on the upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia. But he said it was time “for the technical teams to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, and everybody is committed to that process.”
Asked by Bloomberg about the prospect of a possible meeting in the Kingdom between Trump and Putin, Witkoff said “my best bet would be it’s likely to happen.” He offered no timeline.
Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz on Wednesday also expressed confidence about enacting steps to bring the fighting to an end.
“I spoke today with my Russian counterpart Yuri Ushakov about President Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine,” Waltz posted on X.
“We agreed our technical teams would meet in Riyadh in the coming days to focus on implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire President Trump secured from Russia.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, after his call with Trump on Wednesday, said that officials from Ukraine and the US could meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days for a second round of peace talks.

“Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue coordinating steps toward peace,” Zelensky wrote on X.


Russia toughens sentence against French banker who left country

Updated 19 March 2025
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Russia toughens sentence against French banker who left country

  • Delpal was sentenced alongside his business partner, US investor Michael Calvey, both of whom vehemently denied the charges
  • The case shocked Russia’s business community and triggered an outflow of foreign capital from Russia

MOSCOW: A Moscow court has toughened an embezzlement conviction against a French banker who left the country years earlier, converting his initial suspended sentence to jail time, Russian state media reported Wednesday.
Philippe Delpal, a former senior executive at the Baring Vostok investment group, received a four-and-a-half year suspended sentence in 2021 for allegedly swindling funds from Vostochny Bank — partly owned at the time by a businessman linked to Vladimir Putin.
Delpal was sentenced alongside his business partner, US investor Michael Calvey, both of whom vehemently denied the charges.
The case shocked Russia’s business community and triggered an outflow of foreign capital from Russia.
The latest move, while likely to have little impact, comes as relations between Moscow and Paris plummet to new lows as the Kremlin shifts blame for the three-year Ukraine conflict from the United States to Europe.
Both Calvey and Delpal left Russia once the travel restrictions in their suspended sentences were lifted.
Moscow’s Tverskoy Court on Wednesday replaced Delpal’s initial suspended sentence “with a real one” following a petition from Russia’s federal prison service, Russia’s state TASS news agency reported.
Delpal, who spent six months in jail before he was put under house arrest, received the suspended sentence in 2021.
Five Russian associates who said they were innocent also received suspended sentences of between three-and-a-half years to five years.
A Moscow court later reduced Delpal’s sentence from four-and-a-half years to three-and-a-half-years.