Ukraine’s ex-foreign minister backs Trump on defense spending, warns diplomacy with Putin is nearly exhausted
SPECIFIC - NATO members committed Wednesday to increase defense spending to of gross domestic product by heeding President Donald Trump s calls for the transatlantic military alliance to take more actions to bolster its guard Ukraine s former Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba advised Fox News Digital the move is a big immediate win for Trump and would be a critical win for Europe s future if it takes the increase in defense spending seriously and begins to deliver on the commitment This is a serious lesson that Europe will have to learn Not only investing but also spending Spending in a way that will allow them to show to the citizens that they're making a good funding in their assurance and their economies and to send a message to their enemy do not dare to attack us because we are ready we are prepared to strike back he mentioned NATO SECRETARY GENERAL SAYS EUROPEAN COUNTRIES HAVE TO DO MUCH MUCH MORE TO INCREASE DEFENSE SPENDINGIn a wide-ranging interview with Fox News Digital Kuleba bluntly assessed the state of Russia-Ukraine peace talks arguing the current diplomatic process is dead Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated attacks on Ukraine in new months targeting Kyiv with large-scale missile and drone attacks The Russian strongman has refused to agree to a -day unconditional ceasefire proposed by the United States and its European allies earlier this year At the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in mid-June Putin revealed he considers the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one In this sense all of Ukraine is ours he recounted attendees to applause Trump has held off on imposing additional sanctions on Moscow preferring to wait and see if his diplomatic efforts will bear fruit Putin does not feel any pressure And therefore he does not really get why he should change his behavior noted Kuleba I'm afraid diplomacy has zero chance to succeed at this stage under these circumstances which means that there will be more killings and more destruction Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X formerly Twitter that Putin s goals remain clear He wants all of Ukraine Zelenskyy attended the G summit in Canada last week meeting with world leaders and securing nearly billion in aid from Prime Minister Mark Carney His meeting with Trump was canceled after the U S president left Kananaskis early citing escalating tensions in the Middle East due to the Israel-Iran conflict The two met on the sidelines of the NATO summit on Wednesday and discussed the purchase of American air defense systems Kuleba explained Fox News Digital that Trump is well-positioned to end Russia s war His disruptive approach his readiness to make rapid and strong action these are the things that are needed to bring two sides to first the negotiating table and then to an agreement The Ukrainian diplomat explained that the U S necessities to reshuffle three things to revitalize the negotiating process sticks carrots and the pressure of time Kuleba stated Trump created the pressure of time by stating he could end the war in hours and calling on both sides to sit down and negotiate What happened next is that all sticks went to Ukraine and all carrots went to Russia It has never worked like this centuries ago in the history of diplomacy It doesn't work like this and it's not going to work like this OK because the right way to do it is to create a pressure of time to avoid endless deliberations and to find the right balance of sticks and carrots for each side he advised Fox News Digital RUSSIA BOMBARDS UKRAINE WITH DRONES HOURS AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCES TALKS WITH PUTINTrump and Putin in recent days spoke by phone on June after Israel struck Iran s nuclear facilities The Russian leader reported he was ready to continue negotiations with the Ukrainians after June according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Peace talks in Istanbul have failed to produce much other than prisoner of war exchanges as Putin doubles down on his maximalist demands Kuleba commented the best thing for Europe to do as negotiations stall is to continue producing and buying weapons not only for Ukraine but also for itself For decades Europe was relying on the United States and was going back and forth with Washington checking every decision they were going to make but it's just not sustainable anymore he explained They have to learn how to take care of themselves sorry to say it The sooner they do it the better for them us and everyone else You cannot build your life knowing that America is paying for my safety Russian gas is paying for my cheap capacity prices and the socialism that I'm building And Chinese minerals are allowing me to are paying for my industrial growths It's not sustainable You cannot depend on one contestant in the largest part critical fundamentals for your life he added The European Union proposed an th sanctions package against Russia in June targeting its vigor and banking sectors We want peace for Ukraine Despite weeks of diplomatic attempts despite President Zelenskyy's offer of an unconditional ceasefire Russia continues to bring death and destruction to Ukraine commented European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the EU s top diplomat Kaja Kallas in a joint comment Russia's goal is not peace it is to impose the rule of might Therefore we are ramping up pressure on Russia Because strength is the only language that Russia will understand
