Brussels, April 11: European countries vowed on Friday to sends billions of dollars in further funding to help Ukraine keep fighting Russia’s invasion, as a US envoy pursued peace efforts in a trip to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing questions about the Kremlin’s willingness to stop the more than three-year war.
After chairing a meeting of Ukraine’s Western backers in Brussels, British Defence Secretary John Healey said that new pledges of military aid totalled over 21 billion euros (USD 24 billion), “a record boost in military funding for Ukraine, and we are also surging that support to the frontline fight”.
Healey gave no breakdown of that figure, and Ukraine has in the past complained that some countries repeat old offers at such pledging conferences or fail to deliver real arms and ammunition worth the money they promise.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that Ukraine’s backers have provided around USD 21 billion so far in the first three months of this year.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Friday that more than USD 26 billion have been committed.
In Moscow, meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff was in Russia and would meet with Putin in St. Petersburg. Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, initially met with Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, footage released by Russian media showed.
Russia holds off agreeing to ceasefire
Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its fourth year. Ukraine has endorsed a US ceasefire proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions.
The Russian delay in accepting Washington’s proposal has frustrated Trump and fuelled doubts about whether Russian President Putin really wants to stop the fighting while his bigger army has momentum on the battlefield.
Washington remains committed to securing a peace deal, even though four weeks have passed since it made its ceasefire proposals, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.
“It is a dynamic that will not be solved militarily. It is a meat grinder,” Bruce said Thursday about the war, adding that “nothing else can be discussed until the shooting and the killing stops.” (AP)
