Extent of new US lethal arms package to Ukraine revealed
NATO Secretary Mark Rutte said the new flow of arms form the U.S. to Ukraine will be 'massive' – with further munitions packages to follow following talks with President Trump. Rutte described the package in comments to the Daily Mail as he briefed lawmakers on a scheme to use the new financing proposal to funnel lethal weaponry to Ukraine as it staves off repeated Russian drone and missile attacks.
The former Dutch PM is meeting with lawmakers still assessing President Donald Trump 's sudden U-turn on Ukraine – if the president applying new pressure on Moscow even while continuing to say American taxpayers have borne too much of the burden, and has publicly refused to pick sides in the war. 'How do you say it in English? Infinite – it's not finite,' Rutte told the Daily Mail between meetings in the Senate.
'This will be packages designed … to make sure that Ukrainians get a handle what they need, of course, taking into account what US can deliver, because you also still have to make sure that you have enough stuff and gear here to defend yourselves,' he said. 'But this is potentially massive. And not only air defense, it is also missiles and ammunition,' he added.
He stressed that the proposal is designed to make sure that 'you have enough in stock for yourself,' amid concerns among top Pentagon officials who ordered a temporary pause to aid while it assessed U.S. stockpiles. He said the 'potentially massive air defense, plus missiles and ammunition' packages still had to be arranged at the granular level. 'But NATO is good at this, because we have designed these packages over three and a half years now with Ukrainian.'
Rutte spoke a day after meeting with Trump in the office . The president deferred to Rutte in response to a question by the Daily Mail about whether there was a ceiling on what the Europeans are willing to meet. 'It's not that you can have a shopping list and you can order whatever you want, because the U.S. has to make sure that the U.S. keeps his hands on what US needs also to keep the whole world safe. Because in the end, you are the police agent of the whole world.'
He brought up Germany and other major NATO allies 'talking about big numbers.' 'They are really enthusiastic about this. They're willing to go very far, I will tell you,' Trump added. As he left the White House today, Trump denied a key element of Financial Times report that Trump had a fiery conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky July 4 where he encouraged the Ukrainian to strike deep inside Russian territory.
'Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? Can you hit St Petersburg too?' Trump asked his counterpart, according to the report. Asked if Zelensky should target Moscow, Trump replied: 'No, he shouldn't target Moscow.' Trump defended his latest statements toward Russia – that he will impose 'secondary tariffs' after 50 days if there is no deal with Moscow.
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