—Turkey blocks NATO accession talks for Finland and Sweden
—Russian soldier pleads guilty at murder trial in Ukraine
—Ukrainian and Russian officials say peace negotiations have stagnated
—Finland and Sweden submit NATO membership applications
—This article was last updated at 22:25 UTC/GMT

This live updates article has been closed. For the latest on the war in Ukraine, please click here.

Zelenskyy says the war will be long in nightly address

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought to prepare the Ukrainian public for a long war in their country during his nightly video address late Wednesday.

He told the Ukrainian people, “Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Enerhodar, Mariupol and all our cities and towns that are under occupation, under temporary occupation, should know that Ukraine will return.”

He said however the length of time that would take is dependent on battlefield conditions.

“We are trying to do it as soon as possible. We are committed to driving out the occupiers and guaranteeing Ukraine real security,” Zelenskyy said from Kyiv.

Ukraine extended martial law and the mass mobilization by 90 days until August 23.

UN chief hopeful about talks on Ukraine, Russia grain and fertilizer exports

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was in “intense contact” with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union to try and restore Ukrainian grain shipments and revive Russian fertilizer exports.

“I am hopeful, but there is still a way to go,” he told a food security meeting at the UN hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “The complex security, economic and financial implications require goodwill on all sides.”

The war in Ukraine has further fueled already-soaring global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel, and fertilizer.

At a separate meeting earlier, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “using hunger as a weapon.”

She announced plans to launch a global food security alliance. “The terrible consequences of Russia’s war go far beyond Ukraine,” Schulze warned.

On Wednesday, the World Bank also announced an additional $12 billion (€11.5 million) in funding for projects to address the global food security crisis, bringing the total to $30 billion.

Russia closing Canada’s CBC Moscow bureau

Russia has withdrawn the visas and press credentials of Canada’s CBC and Radio Canada journalists and is shutting the organization’s Moscow bureau.

“With regret, we continue to notice open attacks on the Russian media from the countries of the so-called collective West who call themselves civilized,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The move comes after Ottawa banned Russian state TV station Russia Today (RT).

In a statement, the CBC and its French-language unit Radio Canada said they had operated a bureau in Moscow for 44 years and were “deeply disappointed” by the decision.

Several other news outlets have lost their credentials and accreditation since the start of the war, while DW was told to clear out its Moscow bureau shortly before the invasion of Ukraine.

US reopens embassy in Kyiv

The United States reopened its embassy in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

In February, the embassy was closed, and diplomatic personnel “temporarily relocated” to Lviv in western Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian people, with our security assistance, have defended their homeland in the face of Russia’s unconscionable invasion, and, as a result, the Stars and Stripes are flying over the embassy once again,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Secretary Antony Blinken@SecBlinken

United States government official

The Stars and Stripes fly again over Embassy Kyiv. I can announce that we have officially resumed Embassy operations in Ukraine’s capital. We stand proudly with the government and people of Ukraine as they bravely defend their country from Putin’s brutal invasion. Slava Ukraini!

Many western countries, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom have reopened their embassies in Kyiv over the past month, after Russian troops pulled back from the city to focus on an offensive in the east of the country.

Prominent Austrians call for national debate on country’s neutrality

A group of prominent Austrians has written an open letter urging the country to engage in a “serious, nationwide discussion about the future of Austria’s security and defense policy.”

They called for this discussion to take place without blinkers. Acknowledging that they themselves were of different opinions on specific issues like neutrality and non-alignment, a deeper EU defense policy or Austria joining NATO, they said they agreed on one thing: “We are united in the conviction that the status quo of our security policy is not only unsustainable but dangerous for our country,” they wrote.

The group includes military and economic experts, as well as former ambassadors.

“We are now unprepared, and this is the worst security crisis in Europe since 1945,” they wrote.

Since the start of the war, Chancellor Karl Nehammer has struck a delicate balance with regard to Austria’s position. He has maintained that the country has no plans to change its security status, while at the same time declaring that military neutrality doesn’t necessarily mean moral neutrality.

Austria has strongly condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

European Commission starts work on joint defense spending

The European Commission urged member countries to replace stockpiles of arms sent to Ukraine.

The Commission is offering €500 million ($526 million) over two years to countries willing to work in groups to replenish their stocks.

It is part of a new plan under which the EU would play a more significant role in coordinating increased military spending amongst its members.

“We need to spend more on defense, and we need to do it in a coordinated way,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

A joint procurement taskforce would coordinate spending to replace stockpiles of arms sent to Ukraine in the short term. It would also help countries phase out Soviet-era equipment and improve air and missile defense systems.

The commission eventually wants the task force to lay the groundwork for a bigger joint procurement program in the future.

Czechs to get German tanks as it arms Ukraine

Germany would donate 15 tanks to the Czech armed forces.

It is part of a program under which Berlin aimed to help countries pass their stocks of Soviet weaponry to Ukraine.

“The exchange is another good example of how we are helping Ukraine in its brave fight against Russian aggression,” Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said.

Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said the move showed Germany’s appreciation of her country’s military help to Ukraine.

The Czechs have given Ukraine Soviet-era heavy weapons worth at least $130 million (€124 million). Prague has not disclosed the exact equipment, though local media reports suggest it had sent Soviet-made T-72 tanks and other heavy technology to Ukraine.

The Czech Republic also talked to Germany about purchasing up to 50 more new Leopard A7+ tanks.

Ukrainian refugees employed to help with Oktoberfest preparations

Ukrainian refugees have been pictured making and decorating gingerbread hearts at the ‘Zuckersucht’ bakery in Aschheim near Munich in Germany, for Oktoberfest.

Maria, a refugee from Mykolaiv in Ukraine, decorates gingerbread Oktoberfest hearts

Over the weekend, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wrote on Twitter that around 2,000 refugees were arriving in Germany each day, down from 15, 000 at the start of the war.

She added that many more were returning to their country across the Polish-Ukrainian border.

Refugees from Ukraine will be able to receivebasic welfare benefits in Germany as of June 1.

US and Russia contradict each other over sanctions impact

The US Treasury Secretary said sanctions against Russia had an enormous impact, but Russia said its economy was showing resilience.

“Russia is experiencing recession, high inflation, acute challenges in their financial system, and (an) inability to procure the material and products they need to support their war or their economy,” US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters ahead of a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Bonn, Germany.

Russia Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, though, was confident that inflation in Russia would slow down further.

Without directly commenting on Yellen’s remarks, Reshetnikov said Russia had withstood the first hit from sanctions, and it is impossible to isolate the country from abroad.

Turkey blocks NATO accession talks for Finland and Sweden — sources

Turkey has blocked the start of NATO accession talks for Finland and Sweden, diplomatic sources told DW on condition of anonymity.

Sources told DW’s Teri Schultz, currently on assignment in Stockholm, that NATO’s governing body could not decide as planned to start the accession process for the two candidate members as Turkey objected.

Teri Schultz@terischultz
Not yet, Nordics.

#NATO ambassadors discussed the Finnish and Swedish membership bids this morning and could have approved opening negotiations, but #Turkey blocked the decision.

Finland and Sweden submitted their bids to join the military alliance earlier on Wednesday.

Turkey claims that both Sweden and Finland have provided a refuge for Kurdish groups it labels “terrorists,” and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara will not approve the expansion.

Erdogan reiterated his objections on Wednesday, during a speech to lawmakers from his party, saying that “we cannot say yes” to Finland and Sweden’s bid until they return “terrorists” to Turkey.

Russian soldier pleads guilty of murder at Kyiv trial

Vadim S., a 21-year-old Russian tank commander held in Ukraine, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to killing an unarmed civilian.

After his convoy was hit, the defendant and four other fleeing soldiers are alleged to have stole a car from outside the village of Chupakhivka in the early days of the invasion.

He is accused of attacking the 62-year-old, who was riding past them on a bicycle, to prevent him from reporting their presence.

“One of the military servicemen ordered the accused to kill a civilian so that he would not report them. The man died on the spot just a few dozen meters from his home,” Ukrainian prosecutors said.

The soldier is charged with war crimes and premeditated murder and could face a life sentence.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it had not been informed about the case.

“We still have no information. And the ability to provide assistance due to the lack of our diplomatic mission there is also very limited,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says it is expelling scores of diplomats from several European countries in a retaliatory move to their expulsions of Russian diplomatic personnel.

Moscow said it was expelling 34 “employees of French diplomatic missions” in a tit-for-tat move.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said 27 employees of the Spanish embassy in Moscow and the Spanish Consulate General in Saint Petersburg “have been declared personae non-gratae.” Meanwhile, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russian news agencies that 24 Italian diplomats had also been expelled, also in an apparent retaliatory move.

A diplomatic source told the AFP news agency the French diplomats had been given two weeks to leave the country. The announcement comes in response to France kicking out 35 Russians with diplomatic status in April.

The French Foreign Office said the step had “no legitimate basis.” In a statement, it said that “the work of the diplomats and staff at [France’s] embassy in Russia… takes place fully within the framework of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic and consular relations.” Paris expelled the Russian staff in April on suspicion of being spies.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Wednesday condemned Russia’s expulsions of the various nations’ diplomats. “This is clearly a hostile act,” he said.

EU proposes up to €9 billion in more aid to Ukraine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed extra aid to Ukraine this year of up to nine billion euros ($9.5 billion).

Speaking in a broadcast statement, von der Leyen said the fund would help the country cope with the ravages of war.

The Commission president said it was time to think about rebuilding Ukraine whenever the war ends. She added that the EU had “a strategic interest in leading this reconstruction effort”.

Speaking in a broadcast statement, von der Leyen said the EU also intends to mobilize up to €300 billion of investment by 2030 to end the bloc’s reliance on Russian oil and gas.

The investments will include €10 billion for gas infrastructure, €2 billion for oil, and the rest for clean energy, von der Leyen told reporters.

Ukraine calls for Azovstal fighters to be exchanged

Ukrainian military officials say they still hope fighters extracted from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol could be exchanged for Russian prisoners of war.

However, Russian lawmakers plan to take up a resolution that would prevent the exchange of Azov Regiment fighters on Wednesday.

The soldiers held out for months inside the Azovstal steelworks plant while Mariupol was under siege.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, nearly 1,000 Ukrainian holed up at the works have surrendered this week — many of whom are wounded.

They are reported to have been taken to a reopened former penal colony in Russian-controlled territory.

It’s unclear how many fighters still remain at the sprawling site which became the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance within Mariupol.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar has said negotiations for the troops’ release are ongoing with some fighters still believed to be inside the mill.

Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin has said a court will decide the fate of the Ukrainian fighters, a local media outlet reported.

G7 ministers meet to discuss finance for Ukraine

The finance ministers of the Group of Seven leading economies are meeting in Germany to discuss short-term aid to stabilize the Ukrainian national budget.

It’s believed that the country needs some €5 billion of assistance for an initial period of three months.

The consultations beginning on Wednesday near the western city of Bonn are to be attended by central bank governors and some experts. A joint declaration is planned for Friday.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said the European Union was likely to make significant financial contributions to keep Ukraine going. Yellen added that she hoped other G7 members like Britain, Canada and Japan would also step up.

Yellen, who was in Brussels on Tuesday, said the US has made a strong commitment to funding Ukraine and that it was clear that the EU was “very serious about wanting to provide the necessary aid as well.”

US Treasury officials have also said they plan to propose the idea of European countries imposing tariffs on Russian oil — as a faster alternative to an outright ban on it — at the meeting.

EU officials are now considering a phased embargo on Russian oil, but there are concerns from eastern European countries about supply. A tariff mechanism would be designed to keep Russian oil on the market but limit the amount of revenue that can flow to Moscow from exports, the Treasury officials said.

Finland and Sweden formally submit NATO bids

Finland and Sweden have formally submitted their bids to join NATO , despite Turkey’s threat to block the addition of the Nordic nations.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he had received application letters from the two Nordic countries’ ambassadors.

“I warmly welcome the requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO. You are our closest partners,” Stoltenberg told reporters.

Finland — which has a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia — and its neighbor Sweden have been disturbed by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The two countries’ accession would end decades of military neutrality to join the alliance as a defense against feared aggression from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday warned that the expansion of NATO might trigger a response. However, the main obstacle to Finland and Sweden’s membership comes from within the alliance.

Turkey claims that both Sweden and Finland have provided a refuge for terrorist groups and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists Ankara will not approve the expansion.

Any bid to join NATO must be approved unanimously by all 30 members of the alliance.

US sets up conflict monitor on Ukraine

The United States has set up a new monitoring body to build legal cases against Russia for crimes committed during its war against Ukraine.

The State Department says it aims to contribute to eventual prosecutions in the domestic courts of Ukraine and those of third-party countries, plus US courts and other tribunals. The monitor would also provide information refuting Russian disinformation campaigns.

Announcing the creation of the Conflict Observatory, State Department spokesman Ned Price said it would “ensure that crimes committed by Russia’s forces are documented and perpetrators are held accountable.”

“The program will capture, analyze, and make publicly available open-source information and evidence of atrocities, human rights abuses, and harm to civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine’s cultural heritage,” he said.

Reports will be posted on ConflictObservatory.org. Price said the observatory was a collaboration that would involve scientists and the private sector.

First war crimes trial against Russian soldier in Kyiv

The first war crimes trial against a Russian soldier since the start of the invasion is set to start on Wednesday.

A Russian soldier will appear at Kyiv’s Solomyansky district court from 2 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) accused of killing a 62-year-old civilian in northeastern Ukraine on February 28. He faces a possible life sentence.

“He understands what he is being accused of,” his lawyer Viktor Ovsiannikov told the AFP news agency. “This is the first such case in Ukraine with such an indictment. There is no relevant legal practice or verdicts on such cases. We will sort it out.”

Ukrainian authorities said the suspect is cooperating with investigators.

Prosecutors say the suspect was commanding a unit in a tank division when his convoy came under attack. According to prosecutors, he and four other soldiers stole a car and as they were traveling near the northeastern village of Shupakhivka, they encountered a 62-year-old man on a bicycle.

“One of the soldiers ordered the accused to kill the civilian so that he would not denounce them,” the prosecutor’s office said. The suspect then shot the man from the window of the vehicle, prosecutors say.

The trial is likely to be followed by other cases. Two Russian soldiers are due to go on trial on Thursday for allegedly firing rockets at civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv region.

On Tuesday, the office of the Ukrainian chief prosecutor tweeted that it had registered 11,846 cases of “crimes of aggression and war crimes” and 5,644 “crimes against national security” involving 623 suspects.

Peace negotiations have stagnated — Ukrainian, Russian officials

Ukrainian and Russian officials have said that negotiations between the two countries have stagnated.

Moscow has accused Ukraine of hardening its stance. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko that Kyiv has “practically withdrawn from the negotiation process.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Western countries want to use Ukraine to their strategic advantage. He argued that no peace deal can be made if negotiators focus on the West’s concerns rather than the immediate situation in Ukraine.

“We always say that we are ready for negotiations … but we were given no other choice,” Lavrov said.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that talks are “on hold” as Russia is not willing to accept it “will not achieve any goals.”

“Russia does not demonstrate a key understanding of today’s processes in the world,” Podolyak said, according to Ukrainian media. “And its extremely negative role.”

Russia’s Lavrov says NATO accession for Finland, Sweden makes ‘no big difference’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Finland and Sweden joining NATO would not make “much difference.”

“Finland and Sweden, as well as other neutral countries, have been participating in NATO military exercises for many years,” Lavrov said.

“NATO takes their territory into account when planning military advances to the East. So in this sense there is probably not much difference. Let’s see how their territory is used in practice in the North Atlantic alliance.”

Russian deputy PM visits Kherson region

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin has visited the Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.

RIA Novosti reported that Khusnullin said that the region would take a “worthy place in our Russian family.” Kherson is under Russian occupation.

On May 1, Moscow introduced the Russian ruble as official currency in the region.

A few days ago, the Russian-installed local government in Kherson said it plans to appeal to Moscow for the right to become part of the Russian Federation.

EU to unveil plan to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels

The European Commission will unveil a €210 billion plan ($222 billion) to end Europe’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027 and accelerate the shift to green energy.

Russia supplies 40% of the EU’s gas and 27% of its imported oil.

According to draft documents cited by Reuters, Brussels plans to import more non-Russian gas, implement a faster rollout of renewable energy and make efforts to save energy.

Summary of events in Ukraine-Russia crisis on Tuesday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise video address at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival. The former actor turned statesman asked for the cinema world’s solidarity with his people in the face of the Russian invasion.

The International Criminal Court sent war crimes investigators to Ukraine in what it called the largest deployment of its kind in the ICC’s history.

Eight people were killed and 12 wounded in a Russian airstrike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, the regional emergency service said.

Finland’s parliament overwhelmingly approved a proposal to join NATO.

Ukraine’s military said it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Turkish concerns over Finland and Sweden’s possible membership in the alliance need to be addressed.

The western Ukrainian city of Lviv was reportedly hit by at least eight explosions.

Catch up on yesterday’s events by clicking here

si,rc/jsi (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-to-give-czechs-tanks-so-it-could-provide-more-weapons-to-ukraine-as-it-happened/a-61832918

The post Germany to give Czechs tanks so it could provide more weapons to Ukraine — as it happened first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

RIGA, Latvia — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Tuesday that the U.S.-led military organization must prepare for the worst as concern mounts that Russia could be preparing to invade Ukraine.

NATO is worried about a Russian buildup of heavy equipment and troops near Ukraine’s northern border, not far from Belarus. Ukraine says Moscow kept about 90,000 troops in the area following massive war games in western Russia earlier this year, and could easily mobilize them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that his country’s intelligence service had uncovered plans for a Russia-backed coup d’état. Russia denied the allegation and rejected the assertion that it is planning to invade Ukraine.

“You can discuss whether the likelihood for an incursion is 20% or 80%, it doesn’t matter. We need to be prepared for the worst,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Riga, Latvia, after chairing talks among NATO foreign ministers focused on the threat posed by Russia.

“There is no certainty, no clarity about exactly what are the Russian intentions, and they may actually evolve and change,” the NATO chief continued. Referring to Russia’s seizure in 2014 of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Stoltenberg added: “They’ve done it before.”

Asked about the decision to activate NATO’s crisis response planning system, which helps analyze potential crises and prepare a response to them, he said: “Allies agree that we need to have the plans in place to be sure that we are always able to protect all allies against any potential threat.”

The United States has shared intelligence with European allies warning of a possible invasion. European diplomats acknowledge the Russian troop movements, but some countries have played down the threat of any imminent invasion ordered by Moscow.

“We are very concerned about the movements we’ve seen along Ukraine’s border. We know that Russia often combines those efforts with internal efforts to destabilize a country. That’s part of the playbook, and we’re looking at it very closely,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

“Any renewed aggression would trigger serious consequences,” Blinken warned.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also said “Russia would have to pay a high price for any form of aggression.”

Maas said “honest and sustainable de-escalation steps, which can only go via the route of talks, are all the more important now.”

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 after Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly president was driven from power by mass protests. Weeks later, Russia threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency that broke out in Ukraine’s east.

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of sending troops and weapons to back the rebels. Moscow denies that, saying that Russians who joined the separatists were volunteers. More than 14,000 people have died in more than seven years of fighting, which also has devastated Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, known as Donbas.

A 2015 peace agreement brokered by France and Germany helped end large-scale battles, but efforts to reach a political settlement have failed and sporadic skirmishes have continued along the tense line of contact. Russia has refused recent overtures for talks with France and Germany.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it is NATO that threatens peace in the region.

“Significant units and military equipment of NATO countries, including the U.S. and Britain, are being deployed closer to our borders,” Lavrov said during a news conference in Moscow. He alleged that the West has long provoked Ukraine “into anti-Russian actions.”

Whatever Russia’s intentions, NATO would not be able to provide Ukraine with any substantial military support in time to make a difference against Russian forces, so economic measures like Western sanctions are more likely to be used to inflict a financial cost on Moscow.

Stoltenberg underlined that Ukraine is not part of the military organization and so cannot benefit from the collective security guarantee available to member countries.

Meanwhile, Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin announced that Belarus will conduct joint military drills with Russia “to cover the southern borders,” a reference to the border area near Ukraine, according to Belarus state news agency Belta. It’s unclear when this would happen.

Cook reported from Brussels. Dasha Litvinova in Moscow, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jill Lawless in London contributed.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/nato-warns-russia-avoid-costly-mistake-ukraine-81463502

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A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the military was expecting formal orders in the coming days to go down to about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan by early next year from around 4,500 currently.

A NATO official also cited expectations of a 1,500 to 2,000 troop decline.

Trump fired his defense secretary, Mark Esper, and appointed other top Pentagon officials last week after longstanding concerns that his priorities were not being dealt with urgently enough at the Defense Department.

They included ending the 19-year-old Afghan engagement by Christmas, an ambitious target that opponents of the country’s longest war welcomed but which Trump’s critics warned could be reckless given ongoing militant violence plaguing Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has featured in a flurry of introductory calls by acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, Esper’s replacement, to U.S. allies’ defense ministers and chiefs of defense, a senior U.S. defense official told Reuters.

“It was a part of many of them because it is of great importance to our NATO allies, our allies in the region and also just global security and protecting the American homeland,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But the official, speaking after the calls with allies, suggested that Trump would not push a withdrawal faster than conditions on the ground allow.

U.S. and Afghan officials are warning of troubling levels of violence by Taliban insurgents and persistent Taliban links to al Qaeda.

It was those ties that triggered U.S. military intervention in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, which al Qaeda carried out. Thousands of American and allied troops have died in fighting in Afghanistan since then.

Some U.S. military officials, citing U.S. counter-terrorism priorities in Afghanistan, have privately urged Trump against going to zero at this point and want to keep U.S. troop levels at around 4,500 for now.

“The president has acted appropriately in this, has never said: ‘Hey, we’re going to zero. Let’s go tomorrow.’ It has always been a conditions-based effort and that effort continues,” the senior U.S. defense official said, without explicitly detailing future drawdown plans.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘SEE FIGHT TO THE FINISH’

Over the past four years, predicting Trump’s policy pronouncements has not always been easy.

On Oct. 7, Trump said on Twitter here “We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!”

But U.S. officials say he has yet to issue orders to carry that withdrawal out. On Monday the first U.S. official said the Pentagon had told commanders to start planning for the more moderate reduction to 2,500 troops.

A total withdrawal now would be difficult for the U.S. military to execute, especially given the reliance of NATO allies on the United States for logistical support, they add.

The NATO official, who asked not to be named, said the belief was the United States could soon announce a drawdown to 2,500 to 3,000 troops by Christmas.

National security adviser Robert O’Brien already raised such a possibility, saying last month the United States would go down to 2,500 by early 2021, in comments overshadowed by Trump’s Christmas timeline.

A NATO diplomat said Miller, in his introductory call with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, did not suggest a complete withdrawal but instead a reduction of troops.

The senior U.S. defense official said U.S. withdrawals from Afghanistan had been carried out in an “educated way so as not to revisit the Iraq withdrawal that failed in 2011.”

Then-President Barack Obama withdrew troops against military advice, only to return them to Iraq three years later.

Regardless of what Trump might do, Taliban militants, fighting against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, have called on the United States to stick to a February agreement with the Trump administration to withdraw U.S. troops by May, subject to certain security guarantees.

Violence has been rising throughout Afghanistan, with the Taliban attacking provincial capitals, in some case prompting U.S. airstrikes.

In Kabul, there is growing fear of a precipitous withdrawal that could further embolden the Taliban and undercut already sputtering peace talks, sources say. Miller, in a message to the U.S. armed forces chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/here released over the weekend, echoed Trump’s desire to end America’s overseas engagements by saying “it’s time to come home.” But he did not offer a timetable and stressed the need to finish the fight against al Qaeda.

The Taliban harbored al Qaeda’s leaders and the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan said the Taliban had not fulfilled their February accord commitment to break ties with al Qaeda.

“We are on the verge of defeating al Qaeda and its associates, but we must avoid our past strategic error of failing to see the fight through to the finish,” wrote Miller, a former Green Beret and counter-terrorism official.

Source: https://in.reuters.com/article/usa-afghanistan-withdrawal/trump-poised-to-settle-for-partial-afghan-withdrawal-despite-pentagon-shakeup-sources-idINKBN27W2BR

The post Trump poised to settle for partial Afghan withdrawal, despite Pentagon shakeup – sources first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group’s top political leader, shake hands after signing a peace agreement between Taliban and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday. | Hussein Sayed/AP Photo

The United States signed a historic peace deal with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, Saturday that officials hope will mark the beginning of the end of America’s longest war. Under the deal, all U.S. troops would withdraw from Afghanistan in 14 months if the Taliban meet their commitments.

The signing between Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban officials will set the stage for the final withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after 19 years of violence that has killed more than 3,500 Americans and coalition troops and tens of thousands of Afghans since the U.S. invasion following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The post All U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan under peace deal first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany will increase defense spending as she prepares to attend an upcoming NATO summit next week in Brussels. She added, however, “Compared to what others are doing in relation to GDP this is not nearly enough.”

Though the new budget will represent a €4-billion ($4.65 billion) increase in funding for the military, it is unlikely to satisfy critics from other NATO allies, first among them US President Donald Trump, who have regularly complained that Germany is not spending enough on defense.

This week, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz will officially present his revised draft budget for 2019 which includes significant spending increases for the armed forces, according to newspaper Handelsblatt. The armed forces’ budget is set to rise to €42.9 billion, government sources told DPA press agency on Monday. The revised budget would be around €675 million more than previously planned for 2019. The budget is set to go to the Cabinet for approval on Friday.

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, who has pledged to end spending cuts for the armed forces, had criticized the initial budget proposal as insufficient. Speaking with foreign journalists about the updated budget proposal on Tuesday evening, von der Leyen said: “I can tell you that I am very satisfied with the 2019 budget.” She emphasized that decades of neglect had made the issue of increased military spending absolutely imperative.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (l to r) during a cabinet meeting at Scloss Meseberg in April (Imago/Sven Simon)

In a story in the New York Times on Tuesday it was revealed that in June, US President Donald Trump had sent strongly worded letters to several allies, among them Germany, criticizing them for not spending enough on defense.

Berlin claims it is committed to bringing its spending on defense closer to the target of 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2024, still, no budget projections between 2018 and 2022 actually meet that target. Germany is scheduled to spend 1.31 percent of GDP on its military in 2019; 1.28 percent in 2020; 1,27 percent in 2021 and 1.23 percent in 2022.

Aging tanks, faulty equipment

The German army, or Bundeswehr, has come under criticism in recent years over inadequate and insufficient materials, including aging tanks and faulty equipment. According to media reports, the unit assigned to NATO duties for 2019 lacks not only armor, but also bulletproof vests, winter clothing and tents. Cuts in military expenditures have determined German defense policy for more than a quarter-century.

The increase in military spending will come at the expense of other ministries, however. Development Minister Gerd Müller, for instance, complained of skewed priorities regarding spending cuts to foreign aid: “My budget is missing €500 million.”

“I fail to understand how we can wrestle with specific aspects of immigration policy for months on end, only to make cuts where migration and exodus have their root: in the countries of origin,” Müller said.

Such cuts are part of Finance Minister Scholz’s commitment to Germany’s long-standing balanced budget policy, known as the “black zero.” The oft-criticized policy, which began under Scholz’s predecessor, Wolfgang Schäuble, has been billed as an obligation to ensure that younger generations of Germans are not saddled with debt at a later date.

The budget is scheduled for debate and a vote in Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, this fall.

js/kms (dpa, Reuters)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/german-army-to-get-4-billion-spending-boost/a-44498599

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