WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to head on an emergency trip to Brussels to discuss how to support Ukraine with European allies in the race before Donald Trump takes the White House. The top US diplomat under outgoing President Joe Biden will meet "with his Nato and European Union counterparts to discuss support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia's aggression," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Trump's election on November 5, coupled with a political crisis in Germany, have escalated fears in Europe on the future of assistance for Ukraine as it battles Russians. Trump has in the past voiced admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and scoffed at the $175 billion in US assistance committed for Ukraine since Moscow's 2022 attack.
The Biden administration has made clear it plans in its remaining weeks to push through the more than $9 billion of remaining funding appropriated by Congress for weapons and other security assistance to Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday renewed his calls for Europe to assume more responsibility for its own defence, saying it had for "too long avoided bearing the burden of its own security".
Speaking alongside Nato chief Mark Rutte, Macron said he was "delighted" that other nations were falling in line with his longstanding call to collectively invest more in defence.
Nato chief Mark Rutte called on Western countries to ramp up support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, saying Kyiv required more than just being kept "in the fight". "We must do more than just keep Ukraine in the fight," Rutte told reporters.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned on Monday that Putin could take advantage of the US post-election transition to press his advantage. "We don't have time to wait until spring," she said. Both Ukraine and Moscow have seen a spike in drone attacks. The New York Times reported that Russia has amassed 50,000 troops, including North Koreans, to attempt to dislodge Ukrainian forces.
Trump in his first term aggressively pushed Europe to step up defence spending and questioned the fairness of Nato, the US-backed transatlantic alliance dating from the Cold War that has been robustly defended by Biden. "It is safe to say that whatever approach the US leadership takes towards Ukraine, Europe will have to step up, and we will have to take the lead in supporting Ukraine's defence efforts and macro financial stability," said Olena Prokopenko of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
