NATO to coordinate regular and large-scale arm deliveries to Ukraine. Most will be bought from US
Two deliveries are expected this month. The equipment that will be provided is based on Ukraine's priority needs on the battlefield. NATO allies then locate the weapons and ammunition and send them on.
'Packages will be prepared rapidly and issued on a regular basis,' NATO said late Monday
Air defense systems are in greatest need. The United Nations has said that Russia's relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians.
Russia's bigger army is also making slow but costly progress along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line. Currently, it is waging an operation to take the eastern city of Pokrovsk, a logistical hub whose fall could allow it to drive deeper into Ukraine.
European allies and Canada are buying most of the equipment they plan to send from the United States, which has greater stocks of ready military materiel, as well as more effective weapons. The Trump administration is not giving any arms to Ukraine.
The new deliveries will come on top of other pledges of military equipment.
The Kiel Institute, which tracks support to Ukraine, estimates that as of June, European countries had provided 72 billion euros ($83 billion) worth of military aid since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, compared to $65 billion in U.S. aid.
Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said that 'American air defense systems and munitions, in particular, are crucial for Ukraine to defend itself.' Announcing the deliveries Monday, he said Russia's attacks are 'pure terror, intended to break Ukraine.'
Germany said Friday that it will deliver two more Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine in the coming days. It agreed to the move after securing assurances that the U.S. will prioritize the delivery of new Patriots to Germany to backfill its stocks. These weapon systems are only made in the U.S.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump administration freezes $584m in grants for ‘life-saving research' at UCLA
The Trump administration has suspended $584m in federal grants for the University of California, Los Angeles, nearly double the amount that was previously thought, the school's chancellor announced on Wednesday. UCLA is the first public university whose federal grants have been targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations related to antisemitism and affirmative action. The Trump administration has frozen or paused federal funding over similar allegations against private colleges. 'If these funds remain suspended, it will be devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation,' Chancellor Julio Frenk said on Wednesday in a statement. The move means 'life-saving research' will be defunded, he said on Friday when the school first received the notice. 'It is a loss for Americans across the nation whose work, health, and future depend on the groundbreaking work we do.' The departments affected rely on funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, Frenk said. The US Department of Education did not immediately respond to an email from the Associated Press requesting comment. The Trump administration recently accused UCLA of violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 'by acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students'. The announcement came as UCLA reached a $6m settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who sued the university, arguing it violated their civil rights by allowing pro-Palestinian protesters in 2024 to block their access to classes and other areas on campus. The university has said that it is committed to campus safety and inclusivity and will continue to implement recommendations. The new UC president, James B Milliken, said in a statement on Wednesday that it has agreed to talks with the administration over the allegations against UCLA. 'These cuts do nothing to address antisemitism,' Milliken said. 'Moreover, the extensive work that UCLA and the entire University of California have taken to combat antisemitism has apparently been ignored.' Milliken said the 'cuts would be a death knell for innovative work that saves lives, grows our economy, and fortifies our national security. It is in our country's best interest that funding be restored.' As part of the lawsuit settlement, UCLA said it will contribute $2.3m to eight organizations that combat antisemitism and support the university's Jewish community. It also has created an Office of Campus and Community Safety, instituting new policies to manage protests on campus. Frenk, whose Jewish father and grandparents fled Nazi Germany to Mexico and whose wife is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, launched an initiative to combat antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias. Last week, Columbia agreed to pay $200m as part of a settlement to resolve investigations into the government's allegations that the school violated federal anti-discrimination laws. The agreement also restores more than $400m in research grants. The Trump administration plans to use its deal with Columbia as a template for other universities, with financial penalties that are now seen as an expectation. Dani Anguiano contributed reporting
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
China is being urged to explain 'secret basement' under its London 'mega-embassy'
has ordered China to explain why it has redacted blueprints for its 'mega-embassy' set to be built in London, amid fears the building's basement rooms could be converted into 'spy dungeons'. As Housing Secretary, Rayner has given Beijing two weeks to either provide unredacted plans, according to the FT. If China does not do this, the deputy prime minister has ordered it to 'identify precisely and comprehensively' the withheld parts and explain why the floorplan for the basement and other areas of the Royal Mint Court development have been 'greyed out'. According to Rayner's letter to the Chinese embassy, she highlighted that two suites of anonymous rooms and a tunnel were redacted 'for security reasons'. Other buildings on the plans were also partly greyed out, including the Cultural Exchange Building and Embassy House. It also highlights a Home Office request for a 'hard perimeter' around the embassy that may represent a 'material amendment to the application that would require further consultation'. The letter asked for further information in order for the Housing Secretary to make a 'lawful determination' on whether to allow the site to go up, adding that 'no view has been formed yet.' The new embassy, if built, would sit opposite the Tower of London in the former Royal Mint and would be China's largest in Europe. Critics fear the site will become the centre of increased espionage operations and may be used to harass Chinese dissidents. The US has already expressed 'deep concern' over the project, as it sits close to the City of London, home to some of the world's largest financial institutions. MPs in the Netherlands have also raised similar concerns. The site was sold to China by the UK government in 2018 for £255million. A full decision on whether the embassy will be allowed to be built will be made by September. It comes after diplomatic sources warned the Mail on Sunday that the new embassy will have on-site accommodation for more than 200 intelligence officers. A source said: 'There will effectively be a student-style campus for spies in the heart of the City. 'And those spy dungeons are so deep that the sensitive cables are virtually at head height.' The MoS can also reveal that the embassy plans exempt a 'cultural exchange' section from 'inspection and verification' by UK authorities. A US security source said 'cultural interests/exchange' is a 'euphemism for intelligence and security services', adding: 'It's where they often stuff their security and intelligence staff, among other diplomats. 'And if it's a "cultural" centre/space, why do they always declare it off limits in planning documents?' Ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: 'Everywhere there is a mega embassy... Chinese state-sponsored, trans-national repression of those who have fled the Chinese state or who criticise it grows dramatically. 'It's simple: a bigger embassy has more spies and more repression.' Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Kevin Hollinrake said Labour had been 'caught red-handed trying to ram through this sinister embassy' in a 'desperate attempt to woo the Chinese Communist Party to bail out their failing economic policies'. He added: 'It is shocking Labour want to sign a legal document that will ban British officials checking what is being built in the embassy building. This is yet another surrender document from a Labour Government that puts foreign interests over British interests.' 'The so-called cultural exchange will clearly be used by Chinese spies and communist bullies to further their political ends.'
Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Pension deals boost profits at Legal & General as employers look to offload defined benefit schemes
Britain's biggest money manager Legal & General saw profits jump as it cashed in on a boom in buyouts of UK pension funds. The buyouts, which are also known as pension risk transfers (PRTs), are when businesses pay financial firms to take over the running of legacy pension schemes. It is one of L&G's most lucrative divisions, with the FTSE 100 firm landing £3.4billion worth of PRT deals in the first six months of the year, up from £1.5billion in 2024. It helped the group, which manages over £1 trillion in assets, make a profit of £859million for the period, 6 per cent higher than last year. L&G boss Antonio Simoes said it planned to expand further into PRT, saying it was eyeing £42billion worth of deals. Employers are keen to offload defined benefit pension schemes, most of them long closed to current employees but which still incur costs. The surge in PRT deals also comes despite Chancellor Rachel Reeves introducing measures to try to encourage employers to keep running defined benefit schemes in the hope they will invest in areas that boost the UK economy. So lucrative is the pension transfer market it has attracted new rivals to L&G. In July, Athora, a European insurer owned by US private equity giant Apollo Global, snapped up Pension Insurance Corp, one of the UK's biggest players in PRT, for £5.7billion. And last week Canadian outfit Brookfield swooped on LSE-listed retirement saving specialist Just Group with a £2.4billion bid. But Simoes said L&G was 'firmly on track' to hit targets and reiterated plans to hand £5billion to its shareholders over three years. The shares dropped 2 per cent, or 5.3p, to 256.2p as analysts were disappointed that its solvency ratio, a key measure of financial strength, had dropped to 217 per cent from 223 per cent. L&G's push into the pensions market comes after Simoes warned Britons were not saving enough for retirement and called on the Government to lower the age of auto-enrolment in workplace schemes to 18, from 22. 'We really need to tackle how much we as individuals and employers are contributing,' he told the Daily Mail. Last month, the Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, announced a review of the state pension age alongside a wider probe into retirement savings.
