Latest news with #military assistance
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ex-PM ‘sad' Brits losing interest in Ukraine
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he is 'quite sad' about what he describes as waning interest in the UK in supporting Ukraine. Speaking to The Telegraph at the Ukrainian embassy in London on Saturday, he lamented that support for Ukraine in the UK is declining. 'The interest in Ukraine and the appetite is so low nowadays. I find it quite sad,' Johnson said. When asked to evaluate how well current Prime Minister Keir Starmer's administration has handled the Ukraine conflict, he responded: 'There are a lot of domestic issues that are very difficult right now, and you can see why they're distracted.' Support among the British public for aid to Ukraine has fallen in recent years, polls suggest. A YouGov poll from February 2023 showed that nearly three-quarters of respondents believed the UK was not providing Kiev with enough aid, whereas only 3% thought it was giving too much. However, an Ipsos survey from this past February indicated that just over half of Britons supported the current level of aid, whereas nearly one in five said too much support was being provided. The UK has committed £18.3 billion ($24.5 billion) in total aid to Ukraine, including £13 billion ($17.4 billion) in military assistance. London has increasingly lobbied to deploy 'peacekeeping' troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire as part of a so-called 'coalition of the willing.' Last week, Starmer's government announced that the coalition would set up permanent headquarters in Paris to coordinate with Kiev to 'regenerate land forces' for Ukraine and 'secure' its skies with fighter jets if there is a cessation in the hostilities. Moscow has stressed that it views the initiative as preparation for a military intervention and warned that it views any NATO troops – under the guise of peacekeepers or not – in Ukraine as hostile. Johnson resigned as UK prime minister in 2022, a few months after the escalation of the conflict. He torpedoed the first peace talks between Moscow and Kiev in Istanbul that year by convincing the latter to withdraw from the negotiations, according to the Ukrainian head negotiator at the time, David Arakhamia.
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Business
- Al Mayadeen
Putin says Russia, Ukraine peace proposals contradictory
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine remain stalled, with each side's demands 'absolutely contradictory,' following two failed rounds of negotiations. During recent talks in Istanbul, negotiators exchanged memoranda outlining their visions for ending the war, now in its third year. However, aside from agreeing to large-scale prisoner swaps, the meetings yielded no meaningful progress toward a ceasefire. "As for the memorandums, as expected, nothing surprising happened... these are two absolutely contradictory memorandums," Putin said during a press conference in Minsk, Belarus. "That's why negotiations are being organised and conducted, in order to find a path to bringing them closer together." At the talks, Russia has demanded Ukraine surrender more territory and renounce Western military assistance—conditions Kiev flatly rejects as unacceptable. Putin has intensified aerial attacks as his forces continue advancing beyond the five Ukrainian regions Moscow claims to have annexed. Following limited progress during the June 2 peace talks, Putin confirmed that both sides would maintain contact, especially after implementing a prisoner exchange deal involving over 1,000 wounded, ill, or young soldiers. He also stated Russia is prepared to return the bodies of 3,000 fallen Ukrainian troops. Putin also revealed the war is straining Russia's economy, revealing that defense spending now consumes 6.3% of GDP, around 13.5 trillion rubles ($172 billion). 'It's a lot,' he said, noting it has fueled inflation but claimed the government is working to bring it under control. During a press conference in Belarus, Putin also criticized NATO's recent pledge to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, calling the move 'aggressive.' Russia does not view itself as an enemy of the West and remains open to dialogue, provided the West abandons its confrontational stance toward Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Monday. In remarks to Russia's RIA Novosti, Grushko emphasized that Moscow's foreign policy concept is not guided by hostility. 'We do not consider ourselves enemies of the West. We are ready for dialogue, but only if our opponents abandon their confrontational policy against Russia and halt eastward expansion,' he said. Grushko also underscored that any dialogue must be based on 'sovereign equality and mutual respect for national interests.' His comments come in response to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's recent suggestion that relations with Russia should eventually return to normal after the end of the Ukraine war. Grushko was skeptical of the prospect, saying Rutte's vision represents 'a very long-term perspective that is nowhere on the horizon yet.' Earlier, in an interview for Bloomberg, Rutte stated that it is natural for Europe and the US to seek a gradual normalization of relations with Russia after the conflict concludes. 'The war will have to fade eventually, and with it, so too must our estrangement,' he remarked.
