BRUSSELS: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s key peace demand that Western allies stop providing military aid and intelligence to Ukraine is quietly being ignored by the European Union.
As US-led talks with Russia and Ukraine progress, without the Europeans at the table, the 27-nation bloc is pressing ahead with a steel “porcupine strategy” aimed at building the Ukrainian armed forces, and the country’s defense industry, into an even more formidable opponent.
At an EU summit on Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that it’s “central” that Ukraine should remain an independent democratic nation that can continue its journey toward EU membership and “that it also has a strong army of its own after a peace agreement.”
“For us, it will be important to continue to support Ukraine significantly — as the European Union as a whole, as allies and friends and as individual countries,” Scholz told reporters in Brussels.
A few hours after he spoke, Scholz’s EU counterparts — with the exception of Hungary, which opposes the bloc’s “peace through strength” stance — called on member countries “to urgently step up efforts to address Ukraine’s pressing military and defense needs.”
Mindful of Russian deception in the past — the “little green men ” who annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, or the troop buildup in 2021 that Moscow denied would lead to any invasion — the Europeans are deeply skeptical about Putin’s intentions and whether he would accept any peace terms.
With the UK and other partners, some European countries are working on a deterrence force to police any future peace. At the same time, Ukraine’s best security guarantee, apart from the NATO membership that the US refuses, is that its own army is strong and well supplied.
In a defense blueprint unveiled on Wednesday, the European Commission set out how it plans to meet Ukraine’s security needs, with EU money available to help bolster its defense industry, which produces arms and ammunition more cheaply and closer to the battlefield.
“Ukraine is currently the front line of European defense, resisting a war of aggression driven by the single greatest threat to our common security,” the document says. “The outcome of that war will be a determinative factor in our collective future for decades ahead.”
At the heart of the EU’s strategy is a commitment to provide air defense systems and missiles — including long-range precision warheads. In groups, countries would jointly purchase the equipment and financially back Ukraine’s own effort to obtain them.
Drones are a major advantage on the battlefield, and the EU intends to back Ukraine’s procurement of them and help it build its own production capacity, including through joint ventures between European and Ukrainian industries.
Another aim is to provide at least 2 million rounds of large-caliber artillery shells each year, and to continue a training effort that has helped to prepare more than 75,000 Ukrainian troops so far. In return, European troops will learn from Ukraine’s front-line experience.
Ukraine would also be able to take part in the EU’s space program, with access to the services provided by national governments in the area of global positioning, navigation, surveillance and communications.
Financially, and beyond the estimated 138 billion euros ($150 billion) already provided to Ukraine, the government in Kyiv would be able to secure cheap loans for defense purposes — as can EU countries and Norway — from a new fund worth 150 billion euros ($162 billion).
EU presses on with steel ‘porcupine strategy’ for Ukraine as Russia tries to end Western support
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EU presses on with steel ‘porcupine strategy’ for Ukraine as Russia tries to end Western support
- The 27-nation bloc aims to build the Ukrainian armed forces and defense industry into an even more formidable opponent
- With the UK and other partners, some European countries are also working on a deterrence force to police any future peace
Putin skipping talks would be 'final signal' Moscow unwilling to end war
Zelensky has called on Putin to personally attend direct Russia-Ukraine talks that the Kremlin leader himself suggested, but Moscow on Tuesday declined to respond to that invitation for the second day running.
"If Vladimir Putin refuses to come to Turkey, it will be the final signal that Russia does not want to end this war, that Russia is not willing and not ready for any negotiations," Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a statement published by the Ukrainian presidency.
Putin's spokesman on Tuesday refused to say who Russia would send to Istanbul.
"The Russian side continues to prepare for the talks scheduled for Thursday. That is all we can say at this point. We do not intend to comment further at this time," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Asked if he could name Russia's negotiating team, Peskov said: "No... as soon as the president deems it necessary, we will announce it."
The meeting between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey would be the first direct talks on the invasion between the two sides since the first months of the war.
Putin proposed negotiations in a late-night statement from the Kremlin over the weekend, a counteroffer after Kyiv and Europe urged Moscow to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire starting Monday.
India kills three suspected militants in Kashmir as Pakistan ceasefire holds
- Clash happened after army’s received information that militants were in Keller forest in the southern Kashmir valley
- Site is around 65 kilometers from Pahalgam, where militants last month killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists
NEW DELHI: Three suspected rebels were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday in a gunbattle with soldiers, the army said, the first since an attack on tourists last month brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
The clash happened after the army’s special counter-insurgency force received information that militants were in Keller forest in the southern Kashmir valley, the army said.
The site is around 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Pahalgam, where militants last month killed 26 people, mostly male Hindu tourists, sparking the worst fighting between India and Pakistan since 1999.
A “search and destroy Operation” was launched leading to a clash, the Indian army said on X.
“During the operation, terrorists opened heavy fire and fierce firefight ensued, which resulted in elimination of three hardcore terrorists,” it said.
India accused Pakistan of backing the “terrorists” it said were responsible for the Pahalgam attack — a charge Islamabad denied — and last week launched missiles at sites in Pakistan it said were hosting the militants.
Four days of tit-for-tat jet fighter, drone, missile and artillery attacks followed, until they agreed to a ceasefire Saturday that US President Donald Trump said was brokered by Washington.
On Tuesday Pakistan’s army announced a new death toll from the fighting, saying that India’s “unprovoked and reprehensible dastardly attacks” killed 40 civilians, including seven women and 15 children, and 11 military service members.
“While defending the motherland with exemplary valour, 11 personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces embraced martyrdom and 78 were wounded.”
Previously Pakistan’s official toll was 33 civilians with no military losses.
India has said that 15 civilians and five soldiers died.
Despite mutual claims on initial violations, the ceasefire still appeared to be holding on Tuesday.
Trump said Monday that US intervention had prevented a “bad nuclear war.”
“We stopped a nuclear conflict... millions of people could have been killed. So I’m very proud of that,” he told reporters at the White House.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a televised address to the nation on Monday that Pakistan has chosen to attack rather than help it fight “terrorism.”
“If another terrorist attack against India is carried out, a strong response will be given,” he said.
A post from his account on X Tuesday said he had met with service members involved in the conflict.
“It was a very special experience to be with those who epitomize courage, determination and fearlessness. India is eternally grateful to our armed forces for everything they do for our nation,” he said.
The flare-up in violence was the worst since the rivals’ last open conflict in 1999 and sparked global shudders that it could spiral into full-blown war.
Pakistan’s military statement Tuesday listed the highest ranked service member to be killed in the latest conflict as an air force squadron leader.
The military has said it downed five Indian jets but has not admitted losing any aircraft of its own.
India has not disclosed losing any aircraft.
Militants have stepped up operations in Kashmir since 2019, when Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked the region’s limited autonomy and took it under direct rule from New Delhi.
Divided Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both countries, who have fought several wars over the territory since their independence from Britain in 1947.
UK High Court hears legal challenge over British government's role in arming Israel
LONDON: In a High Court hearing starting Tuesday, the U.K. government will defend its decision to continue supplying parts for F-35 fighter jets that may be used by Israel in Gaza,
The legal challenge was brought by human rights groups, which argue that the government is breaking domestic and international law and is complicit in atrocities against Palestinians by allowing essential components for the warplanes to be supplied to Israel.
The government said in September that it was suspending about 30 of 350 existing export licenses for equipment deemed to be for use in the conflict in Gaza because of a “clear risk” that the items could be used to “commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” Those equipment included parts for helicopters and drones.
But an exemption was made for some licenses related to components of F-35 fighter jets, which have been linked to Israel’s bombardment campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Rights groups argue that the United Kingdom shouldn't continue the export of the parts through what they call a “deliberate loophole” given the government's own assessment of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law.
Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq and the U.K.-based Global Legal Action Network, which brought the legal challenge, say the components are indirectly supplied to Israel through the global spare parts supply chain.
U.K. officials have argued that stopping the export of F-35 fighter jet components would negatively impact international peace and security.
Compared to major arms suppliers such as the U.S. and Germany, British firms sell a relatively small amount of weapons and components to Israel.
The Campaign Against Arms Trade nonprofit group estimates that the U.K. supplies about 15% of the components in the F-35 stealth combat aircraft, including its laser targeting system.
“British-made F-35s are dropping multi-ton bombs on the people of Gaza, which the U.N. secretary-general has described as a ‘killing field,’” said Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe, a lawyer for the Global Legal Action Network.
“The U.K. government has expressly departed from its own domestic law in order to keep arming Israel. This decision is of continuing and catastrophic effect," she added.
The hearing is expected to last four days and a decision is expected at a later date.
Israel resumed its bombardment in Gaza in March, shattering a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. More than 52,800 people, more than half of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry. The ministry’s count doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed thousands of militants, without giving evidence.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.
Police raid conspiracy theorist group 'Kingdom of Germany'
BERLIN: German authorities on Tuesday banned an extremist group called the "Kingdom of Germany", raided multiple locations nationwide and arrested four of its leading members.
The group is part of a right-wing conspiracy theorist movement known as the "Citizens of the Reich" ("Reichsbuerger"), which rejects the legitimacy of the modern German republic.
Among those detained was the group's self-proclaimed "king" Peter Fitzek, 59, a former chef and karate instructor.
He founded the organisation, which has claimed to have about 6,000 members.
Long dismissed as malcontents and oddballs, the Reichsbuerger have become increasingly radicalised and are considered a security threat by German authorities.
Hundreds of security forces searched properties in seven states linked to the group, known in German as "Koenigreich Deutschland".
The interior ministry said that over the past 10 years, the group had established "pseudo-state structures and institutions", issuing its own currency and identity papers and running an insurance scheme for its members.
The ministry declared the dissolution of the group, which it accused of "attacking the liberal democratic order" of the federal Republic of Germany.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the members of the group had "created a 'counter-state' in our country and built up economic criminal structures".
"In this way, they persistently undermine the legal system and the Federal Republic's monopoly on the use of force."
Authorities said the association had financed itself primarily through prohibited banking and insurance transactions for its members as well as donations.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe said Fitzek was arrested along with three other suspected ringleaders of the group, which was classified as a criminal organisation.
As the "so-called supreme sovereign," Fitzek had "control and decision-making power in all key areas", the Prosecutor's Office said.
"The Kingdom of Germany considers itself a sovereign state within the meaning of international law and strives to extend its claimed 'national territory' to the borders of the German Empire of 1871," it added in a statement.
Fitzek, who once ran unsuccessfully to enter parliament, anointed himself as "king" in 2012 in an elaborate ceremony complete with a crown and sceptre.
He told AFP in an interview in 2023 that founding the organisation was the only answer to the "mass manipulation" he saw in German society.
His followers tend to be people with a "pioneering spirit" who "want to make a positive change in this world", Fitzek told AFP in Wittenberg, the group's original base in eastern Germany.
In Tuesday's raids, police searched locations in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
There were around 23,000 members of the Reichsbuerger movement in 2022, according to Germany's domestic intelligence agency.
More than 2,000 of them were considered potentially violent.
While Reichsbuerger members subscribe to an ideology similar to that of the Kingdom of Germany, the Reichsbuerger movement is made up of many disparate groups.
In 2022, members of a group including an ex-MP and former soldiers were arrested over a plot to attack parliament, overthrow the government and install aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss as head of state.
Another high-profile case saw a group of Reichsbuerger members charged with plotting to kidnap the then health minister, Karl Lauterbach, in protest at Covid-19 restrictions.
Conservatives cautiously hopeful Pope Leo XIV will restore rigor to papacy
- Traditionalist Catholics are cautiously optimistic over the historic election of Pope Leo XIV, hopeful that he will return doctrinal rigor to the papacy,
VATICAN CITY: They went into last week’s conclave vastly outnumbered and smarting after being sidelined by Pope Francis for 12 years.
And yet conservatives and traditionalist Catholics are cautiously optimistic over the historic election of Pope Leo XIV, hopeful that he will return doctrinal rigor to the papacy, even as progressives sense he will continue Francis’ reformist agenda.
Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, a titan of the conservative bloc, said Monday he was very pleased with the election and expected that Leo would heal the divisions that escalated during Francis’ pontificate. Mueller, who was fired by Francis as the Vatican’s doctrinal chief, suggested as a first step that Leo should restore access to the old Latin Mass that his predecessor had greatly restricted.
“I am convinced that he will overcome these superfluous tensions (which were) damaging for the church,” Mueller said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We cannot avoid all the conflicts, but we have to avoid the not necessary conflicts, the superfluous conflicts.”
His sense of hope is significant, given that conservative cardinals went into the conclave at a numerical disadvantage. Francis appointed 108 of the 133 electors, including the former Cardinal Robert Prevost and other pastors in his image.
But in the secret dynamics of the conclave, the Augustinian missionary who spent most of his priestly life in Peru secured far more than the two-thirds majority needed on the fourth ballot in an exceptionally quick, 24-hour conclave. The speed and margin defied expectations, given that this was the largest, most geographically diverse conclave in history and the cardinals barely knew each other.
A ‘good impression’ in the conclave
“I think it was a good impression of him to everybody, and in the end it was a great concordia, a great harmony,” Mueller said. “There was no polemics, no fractionizing.”
Speaking in an interview in his apartment library just off St. Peter’s Square, Mueller said Francis’ crackdown on traditionalists and the old Mass created unnecessary divisions that Leo knows he must heal.
Pope Benedict XVI had loosened restrictions on celebrations of the Latin Mass, which was used for centuries before the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council, which allowed the liturgy to be celebrated in the vernacular. Francis reversed Benedict’s signature liturgical legacy, saying the spread of the Latin Mass had created divisions in dioceses. But the crackdown had the effect of galvanizing Francis’ conservative foes.
“We cannot absolutely condemn or forbid the legitimate right and form of the Latin liturgy,” Mueller said. “According to his character, I think (Leo) is able to speak with people and to find a very good solution that is good for everybody.”
A pleasant surprise over the name ‘Leo’
Mueller is not alone in his optimism.
Benedict’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, who also was fired by Francis and exiled from the Vatican, said he was pleasantly surprised by Leo’s election and hopeful for the future.
In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Gaenswein said the new pontiff’s choice of his name, referencing Pope Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878-1903, as well as Leo the Great and other popes, sent a signal that he would respect tradition, restore doctrinal clarity and pacify divisions.
“Pope Prevost gives me great hope,” Gaenswein was quoted as saying.
In newspaper stories, social media posts, TV interviews and private conversations among friends, some of Francis’ most vocal critics also are sounding cautiously optimistic, rejoicing over some of the smallest — but to them significant — gestures.
They liked that Leo read a written statement when he emerged from the conclave on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, rather than improvise. They liked that his first words referenced Jesus Christ. They loved that he decided to wear the formal red cape, or mozzetta, of the papacy, which they viewed as a show of respect for the office that Francis had eschewed.
Another plus: He sang the noontime Regina Caeli Latin prayer on Sunday, instead of reciting it.
Many point to a report in Corriere that one evening before the conclave began, Prevost was seen entering the apartment building of Cardinal Raymond Burke, another tradition-minded cardinal whom Francis fired as the Vatican’s supreme court chief. Burke, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, could have played the role of a “kingmaker” in the conclave, rallying conservative votes behind a particular candidate.
Mueller said he knew nothing about such a meeting and insisted he was unaware of behind-the-scenes pushing of Prevost. Such lobbying occurred when Jorge Mario Bergoglio had more progressive cardinals promoting his candidacy in 2005 and 2013.
Asked if he voted for Prevost, Mueller demurred.
“Oh, I cannot say. But I am content, no?” he replied.
And yet Prevost also pleased moderates, with many seeing in his first words a continuation of Francis’ priorities to build bridges. The buzzwords signal to some a pope who reaches out to the LGBTQ+ community and people of other faiths. But to others, it is the literal meaning of “pontifex” and a sign of internal bridge-building to heal divisions.
“The pope, as successor of St. Peter, has to unite the church,” Mueller said.
Mueller said he expected Leo would move into the papal apartments at the Apostolic Palace, which he said was the proper place for a pope. Francis chose to live in the Vatican’s Domus Santa Marta hotel because he said he needed to be around people. But the decision had the practical effect of taking over the entire second floor of the hotel, reducing rooms for visiting priests.
Both progressives and conservatives see what they want in Leo
Part of the dynamic at play in these early days of Leo’s papacy is that it appears progressives and conservatives can see in Leo what they want. He has virtually no published history, and played his cards very close to his vest while in Rome as head of the Vatican’s bishops office. He granted few interviews and shied away from the public appearances that fill Vatican cardinals’ days after hours: book presentations, conferences and academic lectures.
George Weigel, the biographer of St. John Paul II and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said Leo’s doctrinal position should be self-evident: that “a man who spent a lot of his life in the Peruvian missions believes in the truth of the Gospel and the truth of the world.”
As for the papal cape and stole, it means “we have a pope who understands the nature of the Petrine Office, which should not be bent to personal idiosyncrasies,” Weigel said in an email.
