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US Pledges More Missiles to Ukraine 07/14 06:02
U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired
Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was in Kyiv on Monday, a senior Ukrainian official
said, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the Trump administration's
policy on the three-year war.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine
and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was in Kyiv on Monday, a senior
Ukrainian official said, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the
Trump administration's policy on the three-year war.
Trump last week said he would make a "major statement" on Russia on Monday.
Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he
has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin's
unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts.
Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and after
taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than
Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of
prolonging the war and called him a "dictator without elections."
But Russia's relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore
down Trump's patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to "STOP!" launching deadly
barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media post that the
Russian leader " has gone absolutely CRAZY!" as the bombardments continued.
"I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody that
meant what he said," Trump said late Sunday. "He'll talk so beautifully and
then he'll bomb people at night. We don't like that."
The European Union can't buy Patriot missiles
Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with
hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine's air
defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian
casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded,
the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said. Russia launched 10 times more
drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.
At the same time, Russia's bigger army is making a new effort to drive back
Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.
Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot air
defense missiles and that the European Union will pay the U.S. for the "various
pieces of very sophisticated" weaponry.
While the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons, EU member
countries can and are, just as NATO member countries are buying and sending
weapons.
Germany has offered to finance two new Patriot systems and is awaiting
official talks on the possibility of more, government spokesperson Stefan
Kornelius said Monday in Berlin.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was traveling to Washington on
Monday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Germany has already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine, and
Pistorius was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial Times that it
now has only six.
Trump ally says war at inflection point
A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said
Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing
interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's full-scale invasion.
It's a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S.
taxpayer money.
"In the coming days, you'll see weapons flowing at a record level to help
Ukraine defend themselves," Graham said on CBS' "Face the Nation." He added:
"One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump. And you
just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there's going to be a massive effort
to get Putin to the table."
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's envoy for international investment who took part in
talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February, dismissed what he said
were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and Washington.
"Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more
effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure," Dmitriev said in a post on
Telegram. "This dialogue will continue, despite titanic efforts to disrupt it
by all possible means."
NATO chief visits Washington
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and
Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Hegseth and Secretary of State
Marco Rubio, as well as members of Congress.
Talks during Kellogg's visit to Kyiv will cover "defense, strengthening
security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing
cooperation between Ukraine and the United States," said the head of Ukraine's
presidential office, Andrii Yermak.
"Russia does not want a cease fire. Peace through strength is President
Donald Trump's principle, and we support this approach," Yermak said.
Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the
northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday
morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor's office said. Four others
were injured, including a 7-year-old, it said.
Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400 missiles and
136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force said. It said that 61
drones were intercepted and 47 more were either jammed or lost from radars
mid-flight.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses downed 11
Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as
over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.
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