European allies seek united Ukraine front as US backing wavers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is honored with standing ovations as he arrives on the stage to give a speech during the 61st Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on February 15, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 16 February 2025
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European allies seek united Ukraine front as US backing wavers

MUNICH, Germany: European leaders on Saturday scrambled to force their way to the table for any talks on the Ukraine war, as Washington announced a team of senior US officials was planning to meet in Saudi Arabia with counterparts from Moscow and Kyiv.
US President Donald Trump upended the status quo this week when he announced he was likely to soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start talks to end the conflict, leaving US allies in Europe concerned their interests would be sidelined.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Saudi Arabia for ceasefire talks with Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, US officials said Saturday, without giving details on when the meeting would happen.
Rubio had already began his Mideast tour on Saturday, arriving first in Israel.
The top US diplomat also had a call Saturday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, in which he “reaffirmed President Trump’s commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine,” spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
In Munich, NATO chief Mark Rutte said Europe had to come up with “good proposals” for securing peace in Ukraine if it wanted to be involved in US-led talks.
“If Europeans want to have a say, make yourself relevant,” Rutte told journalists at a gathering of top policymakers.
Rutte also said he would head to Paris on Monday to take part in an expected meeting of European leaders convened by French President Emmanuel Macron.
A spokesman for Macron’s office told AFP “discussions” were ongoing over a “possible informal meeting.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe “must take on a greater role in NATO” and work with the United States to “secure Ukraine’s future.”
As part of any eventual “security guarantees” for Ukraine, talks have begun in Europe over a potential deployment of peacekeepers.
But those discussions are at an embryonic stage — and others argue the focus needs to be on building up Ukraine’s own forces.

European army
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the creation of a European army, arguing the continent could no longer count on Washington.
“We can’t rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,” Zelensky said.
“I really believe that time has come. The Armed Forces of Europe must be created.”

The push for a joint continental force has been mooted for years without gaining traction and Zelensky’s intervention seems unlikely to shift the balance.
Zelensky’s rallying cry came a day after he met US Vice President JD Vance and as Kyiv tries to ensure it is not sidelined by Trump’s engagement with Putin.
“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement,” Zelensky said in a speech.
“No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. No decisions about Europe without Europe.”
But Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, gave Europeans reasons to doubt they would be heard.
Europe would not be directly involved in talks but would still have an “input,” Kellogg said in Munich.

Vance's assurance
US officials have sought to assure Ukraine that it will not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion.
Vance said after his sit-down with Zelensky that the United States was looking for a “durable, lasting peace” that would not lead to further bloodshed in coming years.
But Washington has sent mixed messages to Kyiv, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appearing to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory.
Trump has also pushed for access to Ukraine’s stocks of rare earth minerals as compensation for the military aid provided by the United States.
Zelensky said Saturday he blocked a deal that would have given the US access to vast amounts of Ukrainian natural resources as it lacked “security guarantees” for Kyiv.
“In my opinion, it does not protect us... our interests,” Zelensky told journalists.
The situation for his forces on the ground has continued to deteriorate.
Despite suffering heavy battlefield losses, the Russian army has been creeping forward in eastern Ukraine for more than a year.
Outside the Munich conference, several hundred pro-Ukrainian demonstrators voiced fears about what may come from talks.
“It’s terrifying,” said Ukraine-born protester Nataliya Galushka, 40, who left the country when she was a child.
“The fact that (Trump is) talking to Putin, a criminal, what kind of world is this?“
 


UK reaffirms Middle East security partnership with US despite war plans leak

Updated 5 sec ago
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UK reaffirms Middle East security partnership with US despite war plans leak

LONDON: Britain will continue to work with the United States on regional security in the Middle East and will deepen relations with Washington on intelligence and defense matters, a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday.
Asked about the mistaken disclosure to a journalist of a conversation about US military action against Houthi targets, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government was confident any communication of British intelligence with the US would not be leaked.
In an article published on Monday, The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief disclosed that officials from the Trump administration shared key military information with him about US airstrikes targeting Houthi rebel positions in Yemen on March 15, just hours before the attack.

Jeffrey Goldberg, an experienced journalist, explained that US government officials mistakenly included him in a text channel where they were discussing the details of the strike.
“The US is our closest ally when it comes to matters of intelligence and defense,” the spokesperson told reporters, declining to comment directly on the specific story.
“We work with the United States incredibly closely on all matters in relation to defense and security ... We will continue to work with the US on regional security.”

Doctors warn US aid cuts leave rural Afghanistan without healthcare

Updated 7 min 45 sec ago
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Doctors warn US aid cuts leave rural Afghanistan without healthcare

  • WHO says hundreds of health centers, clinics across country are set to close by June
  • Afghan health sector relies on donors as govt covers only 3% of total expenditure

Kabul: Afghan doctors warn that new foreign funding cuts are depriving the country’s most vulnerable of healthcare, especially in rural areas, where aid-dependent NGOs are the sole providers.

The WHO announced last week that 206 health facilities across 28 provinces of Afghanistan were either suspended or closed due to a lack of financial support.

About 200 more clinics, health centers and mobile health and nutrition teams operating in remote areas of the country are set to close by June.

The UN health agency said that the funding shortfall, which comes amid massive US aid cuts since January, is leaving an additional 1.8 million Afghans without access to primary health care.

“The big hospitals in provincial capitals are primarily run by the government while most of the health centers in rural areas are operated by NGOs with funding from different donors,” Dr. Zobair Saljuqi, a doctor at Herat Regional Hospital, told Arab News.

Most of the rural population cannot afford to travel to provincial capitals or major cities for treatment. Health facilities in remote areas are also crucial for women, especially since their movement has been curtailed by the Taliban administration.

“If these health facilities don’t receive the needed financial aid, they cannot continue functioning even for a month because from staff salaries, through running costs, to medicines — all are provided by the donors,” Saljuqi said.

“Women will face severe challenges during pregnancies and children could die due to malnutrition or infectious diseases.”

The halt in US aid is another blow to Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation since the Taliban took over in 2021. Following the collapse of the country’s Western-backed regime, the US withdrew its troops and froze all projects overnight, after spending billions on two decades of military and development operations.

Afghanistan’s health sector relies on donor funds. UN estimates show that out-of-pocket expenses and external funding make up 97 percent of total health expenditure, while government contributions account for just 3 percent.

Dr. Ahmad Tariq, who works at a health center in Qarghayi district, Laghman province, said that almost everyone in his neighborhood depended on the facility.

“People here are very poor. They are all either farmers or daily laborers. They can’t afford to travel to the center of the province or buy medicine,” he told Arab News.

“Our small facility is helping tens of patients every day, men and women, children and elderly persons. They come for OPD consultations as well as vaccination and receive some medicine for free. If it wasn’t for this center most of the people would have been deprived of basic health services.”

According to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Health data, 72 percent of the rural population lacks access to primary and secondary healthcare services.

Of the country’s 400 districts, only 93 have operational hospitals, and almost 10 million people in more than 20,000 villages have limited or no access to basic health services.

Dr. Mohammad Nazar, a public health practitioner in Kabul, forecast that the sudden shortage of US-led funding would further devastate Afghanistan’s already fragile health system, which had endured decades of war and Soviet and American invasions.

“Almost all health centers across rural areas are supported by donors and humanitarian organizations,” he said.

“Tens of health facilities are already closing, which means more and more women, children, elderly persons, displaced persons ... will have no access to essential health services and mortality from preventable diseases would rise.”


Governor of Turkiye’s Ankara extends protest ban until April 1

Updated 25 March 2025
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Governor of Turkiye’s Ankara extends protest ban until April 1

ANKARA: The governor of Ankara on Tuesday said he was extending the ban on any form of protest in the Turkish capital until April 1.
The ban would be in place “until 23:59 on April 1,” the statement said.
Protest bans are also in place in Istanbul and the western city of Izmir, but they have been largely ignored with mass demonstrations taking place across the country since the March 19 arrest and subsequent jailing of the country’s main opposition figure.


US-Russia talks on Ukraine ‘useful,’ will continue: Russian negotiator

Updated 25 March 2025
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US-Russia talks on Ukraine ‘useful,’ will continue: Russian negotiator

  • Grigory Karasin: ‘We talked about everything, it was an intense dialogue, not easy, but very useful for us and the Americans’
  • ‘We will continue doing it, adding in the international community, above all the United Nations and certain countries’

MOSCOW: A Russian negotiator said on Tuesday that Moscow would continue “useful” talks with the United States over the Ukraine conflict and would aim to involve the UN and other countries.
“We talked about everything, it was an intense dialogue, not easy, but very useful for us and the Americans,” Grigory Karasin, told the state TASS news agency, adding that “lots of problems were discussed.”
“Of course we are far from solving everything, from being in agreement on all points, but it seems that this type of discussion is very timely,” he said.
“We will continue doing it, adding in the international community, above all the United Nations and certain countries,” Karasin said.
He spoke a day after the US and Russian teams held 12 hours of talks in a luxury hotel in Saudi Arabia.
President Donald Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the three-year war and hopes the latest round of talks in the Saudi capital will pave the way for a breakthrough.
Earlier, TASS cited a source saying that a joint statement on the talks would be published on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian negotiating team was staying in Riyadh for another day to meet with US representatives, a source in the delegation told Suspilne news, with another source also telling AFP a second meeting was likely – a sign that progress may have been made.


White House mistakenly shares Yemen war plans with a journalist at The Atlantic

Updated 25 March 2025
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White House mistakenly shares Yemen war plans with a journalist at The Atlantic

  • Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said he was unexpectedly invited on March 13 to an encrypted chat group on Signal
  • In the group, national security adviser Mike Waltz tasked his deputy with setting up a “tiger team” to coordinate US action against Houthis

WASHINGTON: Top Trump administration officials mistakenly disclosed war plans in a messaging group that included a journalist shortly before the US attacked Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, the White House said on Monday, following a first-hand account by The Atlantic.
Democratic lawmakers swiftly blasted the misstep, saying it was a breach of US national security and a violation of law that must be investigated by Congress.
The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a report on Monday that he was unexpectedly invited on March 13 to an encrypted chat group on the Signal messaging app called the “Houthi PC small group.” In the group, national security adviser Mike Waltz tasked his deputy Alex Wong with setting up a “tiger team” to coordinate US action against the Houthis.
National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said the chat group appeared to be authentic.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Democratic lawmakers demand investigation into security breach

• Use of Signal app for sensitive info deemed illegal by Democrats

• Defense Secretary Hegseth said to call European allies freeloaders

US President Donald Trump launched an ongoing campaign of large-scale military strikes against Yemen’s Houthis on March 15 over the group’s attacks against Red Sea shipping, and he warned Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, that it needed to immediately halt support for the group.
Hours before those attacks started, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted operational details about the plan in the messaging group, “including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Goldberg said. His report omitted the details but Goldberg termed it a “shockingly reckless” use of a Signal chat.
Accounts that appeared to represent Vice President JD Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and senior National Security Council officials were assembled in the chat group, Goldberg wrote.
Joe Kent, Trump’s nominee for National Counterterrorism Center director, was apparently on the Signal chain despite not yet being Senate-confirmed.
Trump told reporters at the White House that he was unaware of the incident. “I don’t know anything about it. I’m not a big fan of The Atlantic,” Trump said. A White House official said later that an investigation was under way and Trump had been briefed on it.
The NSC’s Hughes said in a statement: “At this time, the message thread that was reported appears to be authentic, and we are reviewing how an inadvertent number was added to the chain.”
“The thread is a demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials. The ongoing success of the Houthi operation demonstrates that there were no threats to our servicemembers or our national security.”
Hegseth denied sharing war plans in the group chat.
“Nobody was texting war plans, and that’s all I have to say about that,” he told reporters while on an official trip to Hawaii on Monday.

‘EUROPEAN FREE-LOADING’

According to screenshots of the chat reported by The Atlantic, officials in the group debated whether the US should carry out the strikes, and at one point Vance appeared to question whether US allies in Europe, more exposed to shipping disruption in the region, deserved US help.
“@PeteHegseth if you think we should do it let’s go,” a person identified as Vance wrote. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” the person wrote, adding: “Let’s just make sure our messaging is tight here.”
A person identified as Hegseth replied: “VP: I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”
The Atlantic reported that the person identified as Vance also raised concerns about the timing of the strikes, and said there was a strong argument in favor of delaying them by a month.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now. There’s a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices,” the account wrote, before saying he was willing to support the group’s consensus.
Yemen, Houthi-ally Iran and the European Union’s diplomatic service did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
Under US law, it can be a crime to mishandle, misuse or abuse classified information, though it is unclear whether those provisions might have been breached in this case. Messages that The Atlantic report said were set by Waltz to disappear from the Signal app after a period of time also raise questions about possible violations of federal record-keeping laws.
As part of a Trump administration effort to chase down leaks by officials to journalists unrelated to the Signal group, Gabbard posted on X on March 14 that any “unauthorized release of classified information is a violation of the law and will be treated as such.”
On Tuesday, Gabbard is due to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on worldwide threats to the United States.
Created by the entrepreneur Moxie Marlinspike, Signal has gone from an exotic messaging app used by privacy-conscious dissidents to the unofficial whisper network of Washington officialdom.
Democratic lawmakers called the use of the Signal group illegal and demanded an investigation.
“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence that I have read about in a very, very long time,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said, adding that he would ask Majority Leader John Thune to investigate.
“We’re just finding out about it. But obviously, we’ve got to run it to ground and figure out what went on there. We’ll have a plan,” said Thune, a Republican from South Dakota.
There was no immediate suggestion from the White House that the breach would lead to any staffing changes.
“President Trump continues to have the utmost confidence in his national security team, including national security adviser Mike Waltz,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Reuters.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on X the use of Signal to discuss highly sensitive national security issues was “blatantly illegal and dangerous beyond belief.”
“Every single one of the government officials on this text chain have now committed a crime – even if accidentally – that would normally involve a jail sentence,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons said on X.