U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Moscow on Wednesday that the United States and its allies would "impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression" if the war in Ukraine does not come to an end.
"If we must take this step, the U.S. War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do," Hegseth said at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group of Kyiv's allies at NATO headquarters.
Hegseth did not elaborate. His comments came as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is considering a request by Ukraine for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
'COME TO THE PEACE TABLE'
"Now is the time to end this tragic war, stop the needless bloodshed, and come to the peace table," Hegseth said.
"This is not a war that started on President Trump's watch, but it will end on his watch."
Hegseth called on NATO allies to increase spending on purchases of U.S. weapons for Ukraine, following a report that highlighted a sharp decline in Western military support for Kyiv in July and August.
"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 told reporters at NATO headquarters earlier in the day.
Hegseth urged allies to ramp up investment in the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme, which replaced U.S. arms donations to Ukraine and now requires allies to pay for U.S. weapons deliveries.
"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."
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he expected further pledges, noting that $2 billion already had been committed through the mechanism.
NEW AID PLEDGES FROM SWEDEN, FINLAND, ESTONIA
However, this amount falls short of the $3.5 billion Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hoped to secure by October.
Sweden, Estonia, and Finland pledged contributions on Wednesday. But bigger powers such as France and Britain have made no such commitments, despite Hegseth urging all of Kyiv's allies to contribute to the PURL programme.
"Now ... is the time for all NATO countries to turn words into action in the form of PURL investments. All countries around this table, no free riders," Hegseth said at the start of the Contact Group meeting.
Ukraine remains heavily reliant on U.S. weapons as it braces for another winter of grinding conflict with Russia, which now holds around 20% of Ukraine more than three-and-a-half years into its full-scale invasion.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy reported on Tuesday that average monthly military aid to Ukraine fell by 43% in July and August compared with the first half of the year.
According to the institute, most military support now flows through the PURL initiative, which by August had been joined by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
GERMANY FRANCE SIGN DEAL FOR "ODIN'S EYE"
Germany and France on Wednesday signed an implementation agreement for a satellite-based early warning system called Odin's Eye, which is meant to significantly improve Europe's ability to detect missile launches.
"It remains crucial for our joint defence that we can detect and counter threats as swiftly as possible," German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said at a signing ceremony with his new French counterpart Catherine Vautrin on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels.
"From space, we aim to spot hostile missiles the moment they are launched. Only then we can intercept them in time."
German space company OHB has been coordinating the development of an architecture for Odin's Eye.
Armenia is looking to turn shared environmental challenges into opportunities for regional cooperation, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan highlig...
The U.S. has banned government employees working in Saudi Arabia from using airports in the country without special authorisation. It com...
In an interview with AnewZ’s Sabir Safarov, Houthi-aligned journalist Hussain al-Bukhaiti warns of possible attacks on Saudi Arabia’...
The Saudi-led coalition said early Thursday that it intercepted and destroyed a drone over Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed responsibility for the recent drone and missile strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran and Riyadh and at King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia, vowing to carry out more attacks in the coming days.
The U.S. has banned government employees working in Saudi Arabia from using airports in the country without special authorisation. It comes after a deadly Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport killed at least 13 people last week.
Ukraine's soldiers have had their access to Starlink satellite internet restricted. Kyiv's troops use the terminals, made by Elon Musk's SpaceX, to pilot drones. A source in Ukraine's Defence Ministry said the restrictions would make it harder for Kyiv's army to down Russian drones.
Ukraine is set to restart attacks on Russian oil refineries following a two-day pause, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, amid growing tensions with Washington over energy strikes and U.S. military support.
A Norwegian teenager recruited by a Swedish criminal network to carry out a contract killing in Britain has been sentenced to 20 years’ detention after police uncovered the murder plot.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called it “a disgrace” that Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries. Attacks are continuing from Russia and Ukraine as media reports say Ukraine has almost run out of Patriot interceptor missiles.
Romanian rescuers resumed their search for seven missing sailors on Friday (16 October) after a drone strike set a chemical tanker ablaze near the country’s Black Sea coast. The attacks have raised fresh security concerns along a vital regional trade route.
Students, lecturers and university staff marched on Argentina’s Congress in Buenos Aires on Thursday to demand President Javier Milei’s government implement a university funding law which would boost staff salaries and increase financial support to institutions to cover operating costs
A 16-year-old shooter opened fire on Thursday at an elementary school in Bend, Oregon in the United States, killing four people, including three children, before being killed by an armed member of the community who had pursued the assailant into the school, police said.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment