Trump claims he could end war if reelected – DW – 06/28/2024

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union needs to invest €500 billion ($535 billion) over the next decade to bolster its defenses.

“We estimate that additional defense investments of around €500 billion are needed over the next decade,” von der Leyen, who is chief of the bloc’s executive arm said at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.

She said while China and Russia’s military spending had skyrocketed by almost 600% and 300% respectively since the turn of the century, the EU’s combined spending had grown just 20%.

“This is even before Russia massively increased over the last two years its defense spending,” she added.

EU states are pushing to ramp up their defense industries and rearm their militaries in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after years of underinvestment.

EU nations have hiked defense spending in the decade since Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The trend has accelerated since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The bloc’s defense agency says EU countries spent a total of €240 billion on defense in 2022.

Several EU countries have now hit NATO’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.  

A debate is raging over whether the EU should consider joint borrowing through so-called eurobonds, similar to how it financed its post-COVID recovery program.  

Kyiv says it’s pressing European allies to establish a no-fly zone in the west of Ukraine by deploying air defense systems in neighboring Poland and Romania, officials told AFP news agency.

Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko said NATO should place US-made Patriot air defense systems along the Polish border.

“After all, Russian missiles have already entered Polish and Romanian airspace. This would protect the borders of Poland and Romania and this would create a safe zone in the west and south of Ukraine,” he added.

AFP said that several Ukrainian civilian and military officials had made similar remarks in recent days.

Kyiv would like to create a safe space in western Ukraine where industry, energy infrastructure and civilians can be protected.

Half of Ukraine’s national electricity production capacity has been destroyed in recent months by Russia’s onslaught.

Every week, Russian missiles and drones strike the energy network, causing daily power outages that affect a large percentage of the population. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said last month there was “no legal, security or moral argument that stands in the way of our partners shooting down Russian missiles over the territory of Ukraine from their territory.”

A Ukrainian drone hit a Russian petrol depot early Friday setting it on fire, a Russian regional governor said.

“A small fire broke out and it has been contained,” Maxim Yegorov, governor of the Tambov region in central Russia, said on the messaging app Telegram. “There are no victims.”

He added that the strike took place hundreds of miles from the border.

The Kremlin said it “intercepted” 25 drones sent by Ukraine overnight, without mentioning the Tambov region.

In the western Bryansk region, governor Alexander Bogomaz said a drone had been downed but its debris “partially destroyed the roof of an administrative building.”

Former US president Donald Trump said he would be able to “settle” the Ukraine conflict if reelected to the White House in November’s US presidential election.

During the first televised presidential debate with incumbent Joe Biden he said the feat could even be achieved before January 20, the inauguration day.

Trump also claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “would have never invaded Ukraine” if the United States “had a real president.” 

He also called on Biden to pressure European allies to spend more on supporting Ukraine.

When asked whether Russia’s terms for ending the war were acceptable, Trump said they were not.

When it was his turn, Biden once again called Putin “a war criminal” who has killed “thousands and thousands of people.”

The 81-year-old president then warned that the Russian leader would not stop after taking Ukraine.

“Go ahead, let Putin go in and control Ukraine, and then move on to Poland and other places. See what happens then. He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about,” Biden said of Trump.

mm/kb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)