War-Hardened Ukrainians Remain Defiant In Face of Trump’s Blows

Dmitry Peskovspokesman

We absolutely agree with the American administration.

The Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov gloated yesterday

Russia's highly censored state television has, over the past two years, consistently promoted the rape of Ukrainians, the drowning of children, the levelling of cities, the eradication of the Ukrainian elite, and the physical extermination of millions of Ukrainians.

An insight into just how traumatic rule by Moscow could be has been given by Foreign Policy magazine

The British Army is suffering from the cumulative effects of 40 years of decline,

Drummond said

My sense is we can cope, but it is in dire need of investment for the modern battlefield,

the lawmaker told CNN

We do not want to fracture our relationship with America,

British defense analyst Nicholas Drummond told CNN

The way in which this was delivered – blow after blow after blow, within days – that was a real shock” for the continent

said Armida van Rij, a senior research fellow and head of the Europe Programme at London-based think tank Chatham House

It will be very difficult for the military in our current situation,

admitted an MP from the governing Labour party, who has pushed the government to go beyond its planned hike to military spending, which stands at 2.3% of GDP but is set to rise to 2.5% in the coming years

European heads of government should have been getting together … to figure out what the European plan was going to be. But that hasn’t really happened.”

From the moment of Trump’s election victory, van Rij said

Biden got a lot of kit in before the inauguration. Kit is still going in

one said

Europe can no longer fully rely on the United States to defend our shared values and interests.”

The leaders of the center-right European People’s Party, the Socialists and Democrats, the liberal Renew Europe and the Greens declared

We now have an alliance between a Russian president who wants to destroy Europe and an American president who also wants to destroy Europe,

another European diplomat observed in recent days, declining to be identified discussing sensitive matters

We were not fully satisfied with the wording of the assessment of the United States in the text … Now is the time for calm, measured dialogue and a focus on pragmatic solutions.”

A spokesperson for the European Conservatives and Reformists group, which includes Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, explained why it didn’t sign the joint statement

This War is far more important to Europe than it is to us,

Trump wrote on social media

Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security,

the parties said

He wants Europe to take more responsibility for its security to strengthen NATO,

the official said

Nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans,

Trump said

The reality is this current crop of Republicans regard Russia and Ukrainians as sort of equal,

he said

Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action,

he said

Europeans need to help by being in the background of those negotiations, saying, If this doesn't work, we're going to take further action that you're not going to like. Now, that's a very uncomfortable thing for Europeans to do, but it's very necessary.”

He added