PALM BEACH: US president-elect Donald Trump on Thursday promised a "strong military", as he repeated his pledge to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump, who campaigned on an "America First" foreign policy, has said previously that he wanted to strike a deal between Kyiv and Moscow, without giving details, and end bloodshed in the Middle East.
"We have to get back to a great country with low taxes and a strong military. We're going to fix our military, we did once and now we're going to have to do it again," he said on Thursday at a gala organised by the America First Policy Institute at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. "We're going to work on the Middle East and we're going to work very hard on Russia and Ukraine. It's got to stop," Trump added.
He also criticised the "big chunk" of US spending on Afghanistan, from where American troops withdrew in 2021 after two decades of fighting an insurgency by the Taliban, which returned to power that year. Trump's re-election has the potential to upend the almost three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, throwing into question Washington's multibillion-dollar support for Kyiv, which is crucial to its defence.
The Republican said on the campaign trail that he could end the fighting within hours and has indicated he would talk directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has not said how he intends to strike a peace deal on Ukraine or what terms he would propose. Trump has nominated Fox News host and National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth to lead the world's most powerful military as defence secretary, despite a slim CV.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth would command around 3.4 million soldiers and civilians, and oversee an annual budget of about $850 billion. The president-elect has entrusted Elon Musk, the world's richest man, with the task of proposing cuts of $2 trillion from the federal government's $7 trillion budget.
Meanwhile, The UN warned on Friday that renewed Russian targeting of Ukraine's already devastated energy infrastructure this winter could cause severe hardship and spur new mass movements of people. "If they were to target the energy sector again, this could be a tipping point," warned Matthias Schmale, the United Nations' resident humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine. It could "tip the scale", he warned, "for further mass movement, both inside the country and outside".
The war has killed more than 12,000 people and left nearly 40 per cent of the population in need of humanitarian aid, UN data shows. Ukraine is now bracing for its most difficult winter of the war yet.
Russia has already destroyed 65 per cent of its energy production capacity. — AFP
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