According to sources including Politico and Bloomberg, EU leaders are currently working hard on another military aid package for Ukraine – this time worth at least EUR 20 billion.
The planned aid package comes after US President Donald Trump harshly criticized Zelensky, calling him a “dictator” and blaming Ukraine for the war with Russia. Other Republican leaders have also said that the US is tired of funding the war.
In addition to money, the latest European aid package will also include artillery shells and missiles – and as no decision has yet been made, it is not unlikely that the amount will be even higher than reported.
Earlier this week, there was talk of an aid package worth up to €10 billion – but that figure has already doubled, according to sources.
“Closer than ever to a solution”
With Estonian foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas in charge, it is likely that the arms deliveries will come in the form of bureaucratic contributions from individual member states rather than an official EU package – as EU country Hungary, among others, opposes further military aid packages.
–We will not support spending European taxpayers’ money to prolong the war, says Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
Szijjártó stresses that the country will not support the extension of EU sanctions against Russian or Belarusian individuals either – and that it is time to focus on the US-Russia peace talks instead.
– We are closer than ever to a solution, as direct US-Russia talks have revived hope for peace.
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Donald Trump has, according to multiple sources, urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to Russia’s demands to end the war in Ukraine. A stormy meeting at the White House on Friday was reportedly marked by raised voices, heated arguments, and Trump’s repeated echoing of Putin’s positions.
During the meeting, Trump allegedly warned Zelensky that Putin had threatened to “destroy Ukraine” if the country does not accept the terms, reports Financial Times.
Sources with insight say the meeting between the parties devolved several times into “shouting matches”, where Donald Trump used profanities and threw frontline maps across the room.
Trump reportedly insisted that Zelensky must hand over the entire Donbass region to Moscow, and repeated arguments that Putin had made in a phone call the day before. At the same time, he later supported freezing the current frontlines, reflecting his shifting stance on the issue.
Zelensky and his delegation had hoped to convince Trump to deliver Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, but the US president refused.
If the reports are accurate, the meeting can be compared to the contentious meeting in February, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticized Zelensky for lack of gratitude toward the United States.
The meeting between Zelensky and Trump in February earlier this year ended in open quarreling. Facsimile: Fox4
Zelensky’s position unchanged
European officials report that Trump repeatedly echoed Putin’s arguments word for word on several occasions, even when they contradicted his own previous statements about Russia’s weaknesses.
One official said Trump called the conflict a “special operation, not even a war” and warned Zelenskyy that Ukraine risked destruction.
Trump also expressed that Russia’s economy “is doing well”, which contrasts with his previous public statements that Putin’s economy is near collapse.
Zelensky commented to journalists: —Trump wants a quick victory – an end to the war – and that would be a victory for all reasonable people. Putin, however, wants the total occupation of Ukraine.
After the meeting, Zelensky stated that he had made clear to Trump that Ukraine’s position remains unchanged. Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he was convinced the conflict could be ended, adding that Putin “going to take something, he’s won certain property”.
While peace negotiations between the parties are marked by disagreement and stubbornness, fighting continues with undiminished intensity (archive image June 2025). Photo: screenshot/Youtube/@CNN
Donbass in exchange for other regions
Putin has proposed in talks with Trump that Ukraine hand over all of Donbass in exchange for smaller areas in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. However, Zelenskyy stated that there is still no clarity about exactly what Russia is willing to give up in these regions.
Ukrainian officials warn that giving up the remaining Donbass would give Moscow territory that it only partially controls, since the war began over three years ago.
Oleksandr Merezhko, chairman of Ukraine’s foreign affairs committee, says: – To give the Donbas to Russia without a fight is unacceptable for Ukrainian society, and Putin knows that. It’s not about getting more territory for Russia; it’s about how to destroy us from within.
Trump’s repetition of Putin’s rhetoric dampened hopes among many European allies for increased support to Kiev, despite him previously expressing frustration over Putin’s unwillingness to negotiate directly with Zelensky.
Zelensky commented after returning home: – We have moved closer to a possible end to the war. That doesn’t mean it will definitely end, but President Trump has achieved a lot in the Middle East, and riding that wave he wants to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
One of Britain’s highest-ranking military officers assesses that Ukraine will never be able to defeat Russia on the battlefield and should instead negotiate for peace.
In an interview with The Independent’s podcast World of Trouble, Field Marshal Lord David Richards argues that Ukraine simply does not have the capacity to drive Russian forces from its territory and should instead seek a negotiated solution.
Richards, who was promoted to the country’s most prestigious five-star military rank earlier this year and led NATO forces during the troop surge in Afghanistan, is critical of how Ukraine’s allies have managed their support.
— What we have done in the case of Ukraine is encourage Ukraine to fight, but not given them the means to win, says the former Chief of the Defence Staff.
When Richards is asked to reflect on Ukraine’s chances of success against Russia, he is clear.
— My view is that they would not win.
When the interviewer asks whether Ukraine could win even with the right resources, the answer is brief.
— No.
Pressed further on whether the right resources could make a difference, he repeated his answer and added:
— No, they haven’t got the manpower.
Not an existential issue for the West
Richards, who is the only British officer to have commanded large American combat forces since 1945, believes the prospects for Ukraine are bleak.
— Unless we were to go in with them – which we won’t do because Ukraine is not an existential issue for us. It clearly is for the Russians, by the way.
— We’ve decided because it’s not an existential issue, we will not go to war. We are, you can argue – and I absolutely accept it – in some sort of hybrid war. But that’s not the same as a shooting war in which our soldiers are dying in large numbers, Richards continues.
He emphasizes that despite sympathy for the Ukrainians and their achievements, he still believes the war is not in the West’s vital national interests.
— My instinct is that the best Ukraine can do, and you already see President Zelensky, who’s an inspirational leader … the best they can do is a sort of a score draw.
Zelensky met Trump
The statement comes after Volodymyr Zelensky flew to Washington DC to meet Donald Trump and try to convince him to give Ukraine Tomahawk cruise missiles.
But Zelensky’s plans to pressure Trump appear to have been undermined by Vladimir Putin, who spoke with the American president hours before the White House meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
At a packed press conference, Trump appeared hesitant to give away American weapons, while maintaining a friendly tone with Zelensky. The American president emphasized his own country’s need to maintain stockpiles.
Zelensky said very little, except to politely suggest that Ukraine could offer its drone technology in an exchange deal. Trump seemed open to the idea.
After the summit, Zelensky said that Trump had not said no to the idea of Tomahawk missiles – but not yes either.
Iraq war built on lies
In the extensive interview about his military life, the field marshal revealed that although his career has been successful, there have been occasions when he came into conflict with the establishment and often disagreed with his military and political superiors.
As a major general and deputy chief of the army under General Sir Mike Jackson, he says it was obvious to him that British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government was lying about its claims that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons in Iraq.
Tony Blair’s government lied about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to legitimize the invasion. Photo: World Economic Forum/CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Together with other senior officers, he questioned the legality of Britain’s decision to join American forces in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Before the British joined the invasion, Blair presented an intelligence document to parliament claiming that the Iraqi dictator was developing nuclear weapons.
“This stinks”
The document, which has since been mocked as “the dodgy dossier” for its unfounded claims, caused dismay among senior officers who had access to the actual intelligence information.
— “I and others encouraged the chief of defence staff to query whether this was legal and what was the basis of this intelligence, says Lord Richards.
— I do remember one officer – who I won’t name but was on the intelligence side – saying, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll find something to put’. Yeah, ‘don’t worry. We’ll find something about that. We’ll justify what we were doing’, he recounts.
— I went back to say to Mike Jackson, ‘This stinks’.
Western military support to Ukraine has nearly halved over the summer. Now the US Secretary of Defense is demanding that NATO countries once again open their wallets for more American weapons deliveries – but several major European nations are hesitating.
Pete Hegseth had a clear message when he met with his NATO counterparts in Brussels on Wednesday: Europe must invest even more money in American weapons for Ukraine.
The US Secretary of Defense pointed to a report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy showing that military support to Kiev fell dramatically during the summer months – a 43 percent decrease compared to the first half of the year.
Hegseth was explicit about his view on how peace is achieved.
— You get peace when you are strong. Not when you use strong words or wag your fingers, you get it when you have strong and real capabilities that adversaries respect, he declared to assembled journalists.
“Firepower, that’s what is coming and we expect it is coming from NATO. EU will buy US weapons, transfer to Ukraine to get PEACE!️” — U.S. Secretary of War Hegseth in Brussels at NATO defense ministers security meeting
At the center of discussions is the PURL program – Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List – which has fundamentally changed how the U.S. supports Ukraine militarily. Previously, Washington donated weapons directly, but now NATO countries must pay for the deliveries themselves.
According to Hegseth, the logic is simple: The more Europe buys, the faster the war can be concluded.
— Our expectation today is that more countries donate even more, that they purchase even more to provide for Ukraine, to bring that conflict to a peaceful conclusion, he said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced that $2 billion has been pledged so far through the PURL system, and that he expects additional contributions. But the figure falls far short of the $3.5 billion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had hoped to secure by October.
Three countries made new pledges on Wednesday: Sweden, Estonia, and Finland. Corresponding commitments from European heavyweights such as Spain, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom are still lacking.
USA – the big winner?
The Russian government has accused Kiev’s European financiers of prolonging the conflict at the expense of Ukrainian lives, and Moscow claims that European countries are unwilling to acknowledge the failure of their strategy.
Meanwhile, European NATO members continue to bear the economic consequences of their sanctions policy against Russia. After rejecting Russian energy, many EU economies have been hit by rising production costs and widespread bankruptcies in industry.
The United States, however, has benefited from developments through increased investment flows and higher sales of liquefied natural gas to Europe.
US President Donald Trump says Ukraine could receive long-range Tomahawk missiles if the war is not resolved. He acknowledges that such arms deliveries would constitute “a new step of aggression” toward Russia.
President Donald Trump announced during an appearance on Sunday that he is prepared to bring up the issue of delivering Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine in discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, if the war does not end in the near future.
– If this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, according to reports from Associated Press.
He emphasized at the same time that he would like to understand what Ukraine intends to do with the weapons, to avoid an unwanted escalation in the war.
Like Trump himself, however, several sources have expressed reservations about an actual delivery. Reuters reports that it is unlikely the US will send Tomahawks to Ukraine, as existing stockpiles are already earmarked for the Navy and other military purposes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long desired Tomahawk missiles from the US. Montage. Photo: IAEA, Matt Johnson/Right Cheer/CC BY 2.0
Could strike targets deep inside Russia
Tomahawk missiles have an estimated range of approximately 2,500 km (1,550 miles), which would give Ukraine the capability to strike targets deep inside Russia – including Moscow – if the deliveries become reality.
Some critics and analysts question, however, how much such a weapon could affect the conflict on the ground. According to reports, Trump’s closest advisers are skeptical that Tomahawk missiles would significantly change the combat dynamics.
The Kremlin is now issuing strong warnings about consequences if Tomahawks are delivered to Ukraine. Russian representatives claim that such an action would dramatically escalate the conflict and set the stage for a new chapter in the war.
Russia further argues that Ukrainian forces would not be able to handle such a sophisticated system without direct American participation.
Previous statements from Vladimir Putin have also indicated that delivery of such weapons would represent a “qualitatively new stage“ in the conflict.
The rhetoric between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump increasingly strained. Photo: US Department of Defense
Trump: “Sort of made a decision”
Trump has previously hinted that he has “sort of made a decision“ regarding delivery of Tomahawks, but that he wants more information about what Ukraine actually plans to do with them. He has also emphasized that the weapons would not be sent directly by the US to Ukraine, but rather through the NATO alliance.
If an agreement is reached and the weapons are actually delivered, difficult technical, organizational and diplomatic challenges remain to be solved.
Ukraine would need operational capacity, training, target selection systems and support to handle long-range offensive capability.
The threat to arm Ukraine with Tomahawks marks a clear shift in rhetoric from the Trump administration and an increased willingness to use the war’s heaviest symbols in diplomatic pressure.
Between words and reality stand logistical constraints and political concerns – not least from Moscow.
If the decision is made – and the weapons are delivered – we may face a new escalation in the conflict where the risks of direct confrontation between the great powers could become reality.
