NATO prepares to receive a Trump government official for the first time, with the focus on the defense of Ukraine
The Secretary of Defense of USA, Pete Hegsethwill maintain this week an agenda with high -level meetings in Europe, the first since its arrival at office, on January 20. The meetings will be focused on the defense of the continent, more precisely, Ukraine whose war with Russia is close to three years.
The official’s schedule includes his participation on Wednesday at the summit Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, where he will attend in “Listen mode.”
The group was created in 2022 by the previous US secretary, Lloyd Austin, with the aim of gathering weapons and ammunition of the allies, within the framework of the war conflict.
Hegesh will participate in the meeting of the contact group for the defense of Ukraine, created in 2022 by Austin (EFE)
Since then, near 50 countries have collectively provided to kyiv more than USD 126,000 million dollars in arms and military assistance Although, for now, US contributions are a great interrogation since Trump has loaded several times against them because they are too expensive for their country.
In fact, Hegseth himself clarified in the last hours that The shipment of troops to the country is not contemplated since there are other threats that demand this type of resources.
Instead, the administration proposed End the war under negotiations, that many fear can leave Ukraine at a disadvantage.
“Europeans have to be responsible for this conflict. President Trump is going to end and, in terms of security guarantees, that will fall completely on Europeans.” Said the National Security Advisor of the White House, Mike Waltz on the weekend.
Trump insists on his plan to end war, although he has not yet revealed how he plans to do it (Reuters)
Thus, in the prelude to the summit, from the Pentagon they reported that “the secretary will reiterate President Trump’s commitment to end the war in a diplomat as quickly as possible ”and added that “the need for greater European leadership in security assistance to Ukraine”
This second point is expected to be approached mainly on Thursday, during the Meeting of the 31 NATO Defense Ministers.
One of the main criticisms of the White House towards the Alliance is its contribution to the defense of Ukraine, in front of the United States.
Although the figures have increased in recent times, Europeans allocate near the 2% of your GDP To this issue – although a third does not reach this number – while Washington spends around the 3.3 percent.
This difference led to the fact that, in the course of the war, the American giant sent millions of dollars in resources to the country, even being in another continent.
The United States asked NATO to increase their defense expenses (Reuters)
That is why, upon returning to office, Trump asked the partners to They will increase their expenses to 5% well above the 3.5% that the block estimated that it would be necessary to face an attack in allied territory, which generated discomfort between the parties.
Although no official definition is expected this week and it is ruled out that the values proposed by the US government can be implemented, NATO will continue with nervousness The actions of his ally in the coming months since, given similar differences in the past, The Republican threatened not to defend any member who does not comply with the guidelines raised.
“A Constructive dialogue with the new US administration and a United States commitment to do everything possible to keep Ukraine in the fight They would be the most important results” From the meeting, he just said a high -ranking diplomat of the alliance.
(With AP information)
