Trump's pause on Ukraine aid hurt its readiness, watchdog finds
The eight-day halt in March "had tangible effect' on the conflict as well as "significant residual effects on the delivery of security assistance,' including fuses for some precision-guided weapons and 155 mm ammunition, according to the report led by the Pentagon's acting inspector general, Steve Stebbins.
The pause hindered "the cessation of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine and the restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty,' EUCOM told the inspector general.
The inspector general report relies on the European Command's assessment and marks the first public acknowledgment from the U.S. military of the impact of the Trump administration's March 3-11 pause. It was released this week, just before President Donald Trump met President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage.
The quarterly report, covering April 1 through June 30, is a summary of previously disclosed information and new assessments from military offices including EUCOM and the Defense Intelligence Agency. It provides an overview of U.S. military and civilian aid to Ukraine as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the operation launched in 2014 to deter Russian aggression.
The Defense Intelligence Agency told the inspector general that "Ukraine's air defenses and F-16s remained insufficient to defend against Russia's overwhelming missile and UAS attacks that were further damaging military and civilian infrastructure.'
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Congress has appropriated or otherwise made available $187 billion for Ukraine military and nonlethal support. As of June 30, $30 billion remained available to spend, the report said.
The report offers a dire picture of Ukraine's prospects without further aid from the U.S. and allies. It said that as of June 30, Ukraine has exhausted nearly all of its Soviet and Russian artillery and rocket ammunition, making it "almost entirely reliant on Western assistance.'
The IG report also discloses a new DIA damage assessment of Ukraine's June drone attack on four Russian bomber bases.
Ukraine reported it launched 117 small, commercially available UAS armed with explosives from cargo trucks positioned in advance outside of the Russian bases and that the operation damaged more than 40 Russian fixed-wing aircraft, including strategic bombers and early warning and control aircraft.
Still, the DIA in a previously undisclosed assessment told the IG that although "at least 10 Russian strategic bombers were destroyed, those losses will only minimally degrade Russia's ability to continue cruise missile strikes against Ukrainian facilities.'
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Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Europeans to Back Zelenskiy in Washington as Trump Presses Ukraine Deal
LONDON/KYIV/WASHINGTON, Aug 17 (Reuters) – European leaders will join Volodymyr Zelenskiy to meet Donald Trump in Washington, they said on Sunday, seeking to shore up Zelenskiy's position as the U.S. president presses Ukraine to accept a quick peace deal to end Europe's deadliest war in 80 years. Trump is leaning on Zelenskiy to strike an agreement after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and emerged more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal instead of a ceasefire first. Trump and Zelenskiy will meet on Monday. It is expected that they will have a bilateral meeting prior to the European leaders joining a larger conversation, according to a person briefed on the conversation. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on scheduling details. 'If peace is not going to be possible here and this is just going to continue on as a war, people will continue to die by the thousands … we may unfortunately wind up there, but we don't want to wind up there,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS' 'Face the Nation.' Trump discussed Ukraine in several social media posts on Sunday. In one, he promised 'BIG PROGRESS ON RUSSIA' in a social media post without specifying what this might be. In another, he said Zelenskiy could end the war 'almost immediately, if he wants to' and seemed to indicate that reclaiming Crimea and joining NATO are off the table for Ukraine. In a post on his Truth Social social media, Trump said: 'Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!' Sources briefed on Moscow's thinking told Reuters the U.S. and Russian leaders have discussed proposals for Russia to relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine in exchange for Kyiv ceding a swathe of fortified land in the east and freezing the front lines elsewhere. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's envoy to international organizations in Vienna, said Russia agreed that any peace agreement on Ukraine must provide security guarantees to Kyiv. 'Many leaders of #EU states emphasize that a future peace agreement should provide reliable security assurances or guarantees for Ukraine,' Ulyanov said on social media platform X. 'Russia agrees with that. But it has equal right to expect that Moscow will also get efficient security guarantees.' Top Trump officials hinted that the fate of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region – which is already mostly under Russian control – was on the line, while some sort of defensive pact was also on the table. 'We were able to win the following concession, that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection,' Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday, suggesting this would be in lieu of Ukraine seeking NATO membership. He said it was 'the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that.' Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty enshrines the principle of collective defense, in which an attack on any member is considered an attack on all. That pledge may not be enough to sway Kyiv to sign over Donbas. Ukraine's borders were already meant to be guaranteed when Ukraine surrendered a nuclear arsenal in 1994, which proved to be little deterrent when Russia absorbed Crimea in 2014 and launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. The war has killed or wounded more than 1 million people. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a meeting of allies on Sunday to bolster Zelenskiy's hand, hoping in particular to lock down robust security guarantees for Ukraine that would include a U.S. role. The Europeans are eager to help Zelenskiy avoid a repeat of his last Oval Office meeting in February when Trump and Vice President JD Vance gave the Ukrainian leader a public dressing-down, accusing him of being ungrateful and disrespectful. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also travel to Washington, as will Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has played rounds of golf with Trump this year, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, an admirer of many Trump policies. EUROPEAN SHOW OF UNITY European leaders at the Sunday meeting projected unity, welcoming U.S. talk of a security guarantee but stressing no discussions over territory could take place without Kyiv's involvement and clear arrangements to safeguard the rest of Ukraine's land. Some called for an immediate ceasefire, which Trump originally said he was trying to secure during his summit with Putin. Trump later changed course and agreed with the Russians that peace negotiations could come without a ceasefire, an idea dismissed by some of Ukraine's European allies. 'You cannot negotiate peace under falling bombs,' Poland's foreign ministry said in a statement. A joint communique released by Britain, France and Germany after the meeting said their leaders were ready 'to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased, and to help secure Ukraine's skies and seas and regenerate Ukraine's armed forces.' Some European countries, led by Britain and France, have been working since last year on such a plan, but others in the region remain reluctant to become involved militarily. Zelenskiy said on X there had been 'clear support for Ukraine's independence and sovereignty' at the meeting. 'Everyone agrees that borders must not be changed by force.' He said any prospective security guarantees 'must really be very practical, delivering protection on land, in the air, and at sea, and must be developed with Europe's participation.' Rubio said both Russia and Ukraine would need to make concessions to reach a peace deal and security guarantees for Ukraine would be discussed on Monday. He also said there must be additional consequences for Russia if no deal was reached. 'I'm not saying we're on the verge of a peace deal, but I am saying that we saw movement, enough movement to justify a follow-up meeting with Zelenskiy and the Europeans, enough movement for us to dedicate even more time to this,' Rubio told broadcaster CBS. Putin briefed his close ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, about the Alaska talks, and also spoke with Kazakhstan's president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Trump said on Friday Ukraine should make a deal to end the war because 'Russia is a very big power, and they're not.' After the Alaska summit, Trump phoned Zelenskiy and told him the Kremlin chief had offered to freeze most front lines if Ukraine ceded all of Donetsk, a source familiar with the matter said. Zelenskiy rejected the demand.
Japan Times
an hour ago
- Japan Times
Trade partners grow restless waiting for Trump's tariff breaks
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared at a Jaguar Land Rover factory in May that his world-leading trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump included a cut in U.S. tariffs on British steel to zero. More than three months later, steel lobbyist Peter Brennan is still waiting for that relief to become reality. Brennan, director of trade and economic policy at industry body U.K. Steel, said most members had seen U.S. orders fall because of the uncertainty over America's 25% import tax. One producer that makes particularly price-competitive products said they'd be out of business by year-end if tariffs aren't reduced to zero, he added. "Concern is growing that finalizing the deal on steel has fallen down the priority list both for the U.K. and U.S. governments,' Brennan said last week. "The will to close the deal may well be faltering on both sides.' Frustration and economic losses like those in the U.K. are growing in Japan, the European Union and South Korea. Those three made similar announcements over the past month: that Washington granted them leniency on auto exports in the haggling over the level of Trump's across-the-board tariffs that took effect Aug. 7. But for the trio of car export powerhouses, which unlike the U.K. face a 50% duty on their steel and aluminum, the wait for Trump's concession continues while an American levy justified on national security grounds on imported Toyotas, BMWs, Hyundais and others remains at a crippling 25%. "We're continuing to see damage — the bleeding hasn't stopped,' Japan's chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, said Friday in a reference to the country's car industry. "We want the U.S. to sign the executive order as soon as possible.' Spokesmen for the White House, the U.S. Trade Representative's office and the Commerce Department didn't reply to requests for comment. 'Forever negotiations' It was three weeks ago that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shook hands with Trump in Scotland over what she called an "all-inclusive' tariff of 15% that officials in Brussels later understood to be a ceiling that would also apply to cars. VDA, which represents Germany's car industry, is pressing for fast implementation to alleviate a "considerable burden' on manufacturers and their suppliers. "The deal between the EU and the U.S. has not yet brought any clarity or improvement for the German automotive industry,' VDA President Hildegard Müller said in a statement on Thursday. "The costs incurred run into the billions and continue to rise.' Volkswagen body shells on the production line at a factory in Dresden, Germany | BLOOMBERG Cecilia Malmstrom, the former European commissioner for trade who's now a nonresident fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, cautioned that any delays may be purely administrative. But "if nothing happens, there will be huge pressure on the European Commission to retaliate or to act in some way, especially from carmakers in Germany, Italy, France, Sweden and others,' she said. "There are so many other things that are vague in the EU-U.S. deal — and in the others as well — so it is likely we will see forever negotiations and a lot of filibustering.' At a press briefing on Aug. 14, European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said Washington and Brussels are finalizing a joint statement. "The U.S. has made political commitments to us in this respect and we look forward to them being implemented,' he said. Japan's uncertainty Less than a week before the EU's announcement, the U.S. and Japan clinched a surprise deal on July 22 that lowered across-the-board tariffs and car levies to 15%. So far the broader duties have been implemented but the added tax on autos remains at 25%. Officials in Asia's No. 2 economy are waiting for an executive order from Trump to bring down the car levies, as well as an official directive — like the EU already received — to clarify that the universal tariffs don't stack on top of existing duties. Akazawa has mentioned how a Japanese carmaker is losing ¥100 million ($680,000) every hour due to the tariffs. Last month, Nissan Motor said it foresaw a ¥300 billion hit from the lower tariff rate, down from a previous estimate of ¥450 billion. But Chief Executive Officer Ivan Espinosa has warned of the difficulties in giving an accurate forecast as long as it's unclear when the tariffs will take effect and in what way. Akazawa flew to the U.S. earlier this month to confirm that the U.S. will be adjusting its executive order soon to remove the stacking, and pay back overcharges on tariffs. Neither has yet to materialize. Hyundai, Kia Facing similar questions is South Korea, which announced a trade agreement with Washington on July 31. That pact would impose a 15% tariff on imports to the U.S., including autos, alongside a $350 billion Korean investment pledge focused on shipbuilding, and $100 billion in energy purchases. Vehicles bound for export at a port in Incheon, South Korea | BLOOMBERG The 15% universal tariff took effect earlier this month under Trump's order, but like Japan, the sectoral auto tariffs remain at 25%. While South Korea's exports overall have stayed resilient in the first half of the year, thanks to front-loading by companies anticipating higher U.S. tariffs, the value of car shipments to the U.S. fell nearly 17%, and steel exports dropped more than 11%, trade data showed. South Korea's top automaker — Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia — could face as much as $5 billion in additional costs this year even under the new 15% auto tariff. While avoiding a 25% levy will save more than $3 billion, the duty squeezes margins amid softer demand and tighter subsidies, intensifying competition with Japanese automakers, Chen said. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's planned summit with Trump on Aug. 25 — their first meeting since Lee took office in June — will test the durability of the $350 billion investment pledge, as well as their alliance over sensitive issues such as defense spending, U.S. troop levels and North Korea policy. 'Just overwhelmed' For Starmer and the U.K., most aspects of the pact have now come into force, including a 10% so-called reciprocal rate that's the lowest among all U.S. trading partners. Yet Trump's 25% tax on British steel still chafes amid the delays in cutting it. Among the issues to resolve is the U.S.'s insistence that steel should be melted and poured in the U.K. in order to qualify. That's a requirement that Tata Steel U.K., one of the country's biggest producers, is no longer able to fulfill after closing down its blast furnace last year. Its new electric arc furnace is not due to be ready until late 2027. People familiar with the government's thinking are cautiously optimistic they might be able to secure exemptions to the melt-and-pour rule, whereby steel imported from certain European countries before being further processed in the U.K. is allowed to qualify as British. "It's not for lack of trying by the U.K. government,' said Tim Rutter, director of public affairs at Tata Steel. "We hear that U.S. departments are just overwhelmed.' A spokesperson for the U.K. Department for Business and Trade said officials will continue to work with Washington to implement the deal as soon as possible. Late on Friday in Washington, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency issued new inclusions to steel and aluminum product lists for tariffs that take effect Monday, with some of the guidance affecting imports from the U.K. Japan's Akazawa acknowledged that even with the U.K., actual implementation of key parts of their deal took 54 days. As a result, he's said that it's "not bad' if an executive order from the U.S. comes by around mid-September. "It's just further confirmation that negotiations never really end,' especially with more U.S. tariffs coming for sectors including pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, said Sam Lowe, a partner at Flint Global in London and head of its trade and market access practice.
The Mainichi
4 hours ago
- The Mainichi
European leaders to join Ukraine's Zelenskyy for meeting with Trump
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- European and NATO leaders announced Sunday they will join President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington to present a united front in talks with President Donald Trump on ending Russia's war in Ukraine and firming up U.S. security guarantees now on the negotiating table. Leaders from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Finland are rallying around the Ukrainian president after his exclusion from Trump's summit on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their pledge to be at Zelenskyy's side at the White House on Monday is an apparent effort to ensure the meeting goes better than the last one in February, when Trump berated Zelenskyy in a heated Oval Office encounter. "The Europeans are very afraid of the Oval Office scene being repeated and so they want to support Mr. Zelenskyy to the hilt," said retired French Gen. Dominique Trinquand, a former head of France's military mission at the United Nations. "It's a power struggle and a position of strength that might work with Trump," he said. Putin agreed at his summit in Alaska with Trump that the U.S. and its European allies could offer Ukraine a security guarantee resembling NATO's collective defense mandate as part of an eventual deal to end the 3 1/2-year war, special U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." It "was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that," said Witkoff, who called it "game-changing." Later, French President Emmanuel Macron said the European delegation will ask Trump to back plans they drafted to beef-up Ukraine's armed forces -- already Europe's largest outside of Russia -- with more training and equipment to secure any peace. "We need a credible format for the Ukrainian army, that's the first point, and say -- we Europeans and Americans -- how we'll train them, equip them, and finance this effort in the long-term," the French leader said. The European-drafted plans also envision an allied force in Ukraine away from the front lines to reassure Kyiv that peace will hold and to dissuade another Russian invasion, Macron said. He spoke after a nearly two-hour video call Sunday with nations in Europe and further afield -- including Canada, Australia and Japan -- that are involved in the so-called "coalition of the willing." The "several thousand men on the ground in Ukraine in the zone of peace" would signal that "our fates are linked," Macron said. "This is what we must discuss with the Americans: Who is ready to do what?" Macron said. "Otherwise, I think the Ukrainians simply cannot accept commitments that are theoretical." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier at a news conference in Brussels with Zelenskyy that "we welcome President Trump's willingness to contribute to Article 5-like security guarantees for Ukraine. And the 'coalition of the willing' -- including the European Union -- is ready to do its share." Macron said the substance of security guarantees will be more important than whether they are given an Article 5-type label. "A theoretical article isn't enough, the question is one of substance," he said. "We must start out by saying that the first of the security guarantees for Ukraine is a strong Ukrainian army." Along with Von der Leyen and Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubb also said they'll will take part in Monday's talks, as will secretary-general of the NATO military alliance, Mark Rutte. The European leaders' support could help ease concerns in Kyiv and in other European capitals that Ukraine risks being railroaded into a peace deal. Neil Melvin, director of international security at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, said European leaders are trying to "shape this fast-evolving agenda." After the Alaska summit, the idea of a ceasefire appears all-but-abandoned, with the narrative shifting toward Putin's agenda of ensuring Ukraine does not join NATO or even the EU. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that a possible ceasefire is "not off the table" but that the best way to end the war would be through a "full peace deal." Putin has implied that he sees Europe as a hindrance to negotiations. He has also resisted meeting Zelenskyy in person, saying that such a meeting can only take place once the groundwork for a peace deal has been laid. Speaking to the press after his meeting with Trump, the Russian leader raised the idea that Kyiv and other European capitals could "create obstacles" to derail potential progress with "behind-the-scenes intrigue." For now, Zelenskyy offers the Europeans the "only way" to get into the discussions about the future of Ukraine and European security, says RUSI's Melvin. However, the sheer number of European leaders potentially in attendance means the group will have to be "mindful" not to give "contradictory" messages, Melvin said. "The risk is they look heavy-handed and are ganging up on Trump," he added. "Trump won't want to be put in a corner." Although details remain hazy on what Article 5-like security guarantees from the U.S. and Europe would entail for Ukraine, it could mirror NATO membership terms, in which an attack on one member of the alliance is seen as an attack on all. Zelenskyy continues to stress the importance of both U.S. and European involvement in any negotiations. "A security guarantee is a strong army. Only Ukraine can provide that. Only Europe can finance this army, and weapons for this army can be provided by our domestic production and European production. But there are certain things that are in short supply and are only available in the United States," he said at the press conference Sunday alongside Von der Leyen. Zelenskyy also pushed back against Trump's assertion -- which aligned with Putin's preference -- that the two sides should negotiate a complete end to the war, rather than first securing a ceasefire. Zelenskyy said a ceasefire would provide breathing room to review Putin's demands. "It's impossible to do this under the pressure of weapons," he said. "Putin does not want to stop the killing, but he must do it."
