Ukraine and the U.S. have divergent views on Russia\u2019s intent to end the war, Zelenskyi says. NATO\u2019s energy facilities would be among the priority targets if Russia attacks the alliance, NATO\u2019s annual report says. NATO Secretary General denies the reports that the U.S. could divert Ukraine military aid to the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine and the U.S. have divergent views on Russia\u2019s intent to end the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on X Thursday, citing what he told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published that same day. Ukraine doesn\u2019t see Russia as being ready to stop fighting and thus insists on putting more pressure on Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe do not see any genuine desire from Russia to end the war, and we share this view with our partners. The United States believes that Putin wants the war to end. Our views here are completely different,\u201d Zelenskyi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that \u201cit\u2019s normal for opinions to differ.\u201d Yet Ukraine wants the war to end and \u201cto accelerate this process, we raise the issue of putting pressure on Russia.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know that Putin does not want to end the war. We call for additional pressure to make him want to. But the U.S. believes he wants to end it, so why apply extra pressure if Russia is showing it is also ready for peace?\u201d Zelenskyi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia is preparing operations to disrupt Ukraine\u2019s water supply system in the coming months, Zelenskyi said in his nightly address on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The scale of Russia overnight and daytime attacks on the country on Tuesday \u201cstrongly indicates that Russia has no intention of really ending this war,\u201d Zelenskyi said on X. \u201c(\u2026) without additional and strong pressure on Russia, without significant Russian losses, those in Moscow will not develop any desire to back down from the war and somehow come to terms with peace again,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO\u2019s energy facilities would be among the priority targets if Russia attacks the alliance, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said while presenting NATO\u2019s annual report on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRussia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine has demonstrated that energy would also likely be a prime target in any attack directed at NATO,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia remains the most significant and direct threat to NATO\u2019s security. At the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC), Ukrainian and NATO personnel work \u201chand-in-hand to identify and apply lessons learned from Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThroughout 2025, Russia continued to test the Alliance, becoming more reckless, including with airspace violations, sabotage and malign cyber activities,\u201d Rutte said, as cited by the report. Speaking at NATO headquarters, he highlighted the creation of Baltic Sentry, to better guard against potential threats to undersea infrastructure, and Eastern Sentry, which further strengthened Allied deterrence along the eastern flank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe aim of all Allied security assistance to Ukraine is to bring the war to an end and achieve a just and lasting peace,\u201d the report reads. Rutte also praised the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) launched in July 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn 2025, NATO developed a plan to enhance support to the Ukrainian industrial base, including by exploring new sources of investment and ways to integrate Ukraine\u2019s industry into the Allied industry ecosystem,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between 2024 and 2025, European NATO members and Canada increased their defense spending by 20 per cent to USD 574 billion, the report found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2025, Spain, Portugal, Albania, Belgium and Canada spent the lowest share of their GDP on defense \u2014 all at 2 per cent. Poland had the highest spending as a percentage of GDP in the alliance, at 4.3 percent, while Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Denmark were well above 3 percent. Luxembourg, Belgium and Slovenia raised their spending the most year-on-year in absolute terms, while spending dropped in Hungary, the Czech Republic and the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the first time, all of NATO\u2019s 32 members reported defense expenditure that met or exceeded the 2014 target of 2 per cent of GDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon is considering whether to divert weapons intended for Ukraine to the Middle East as the war in Iran depletes some of the U.S. military\u2019s most critical munitions, according to three people familiar with the matter, The Washington Post said Thursday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The weapons that could be diverted away from Ukraine include air defense interceptor missiles, ordered through a NATO program launched last year in which partner countries buy U.S. arms for Kyiv, the three people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the Pentagon\u2019s sensitive deliberations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement, a Pentagon spokesperson said the Defense Department would \u201censure that U.S. forces and those of our allies and partners have what they need to fight and win\u201d but declined to otherwise comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked about The Washington Post\u2019s reporting on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte did not address whether the military alliance is aware of or concerned about a potential rerouting of U.S. equipment. \u201cThis vital U.S. equipment for Ukraine, including interceptors, is continuing to flow,\u201d Rutte told a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the U.S. and Israel launched their attack on Iran on Feb. 28, European capitals have become concerned that Washington is rapidly using up its existing munitions, a pace of fire that could delay their own orders and disrupt deliveries of U.S. systems to Ukraine under PURL, two European diplomats said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe their private concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are really burning through munitions, so there are questions now about how much they will keep providing through the deal,\u201d one of the diplomats said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the most in-demand munitions are high-end air defense interceptors, including the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, systems. The U.S. military has redirected such missiles from other parts of the world, including Europe and East Asia, to U.S. Central Command \u2014 which is responsible for U.S. operations in the Middle East \u2014 bolstering its defenses against Iranian drone and ballistic missile counterattacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These assets are also among the most coveted by Ukraine, which faces a continual barrage of Russian strikes on its cities and infrastructure. One of the people familiar with the Pentagon\u2019s internal calculations said that PURL deliveries were likely to continue but that future packages may be missing air defense capabilities, as the U.S. seeks to replenish its stocks and those of allies in the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe policy debate is how much you give to Ukraine,\u201d a second person said. \u201cThis is a real live discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was not clear whether U.S. shipments would be delayed and fulfilled later or entirely diverted. The Pentagon can redirect such deliveries in the case of an urgent military need but would need to notify lawmakers, the U.S. official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January, Congress passed $400 million in additional long-term weapons aid to Ukraine, funding a separate program that the Pentagon intended to cut. The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) contracts U.S. firms to build weapons that are delivered directly to Kyiv, though the orders can sometimes take years to fulfill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a notice that the Pentagon sent to Congress, reviewed by The Post, the Defense Department has used some of the European PURL money for other capabilities that lawmakers had intended to be paid for by American funding through USAI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It remained unclear, the U.S. official said, whether the Pentagon was using the PURL funding in addition to, or instead of, the money Congress had already passed to deliver such weaponry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separately, the Pentagon notified Congress on Monday that it intended to divert about $750 million in funding provided by NATO countries through the PURL program to restock the U.S. military\u2019s own inventories, rather than to send additional assistance to Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first official said it was unclear whether European countries providing their funds for the initiative to bolster Ukraine understood how the money was being spent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other news, Rutte denied the reports of Ukraine-bound weapons under the PURL program to be redirected to the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis crucial U.S. equipment, including interceptors, continues to flow into Ukraine through PURL,\u201d Rutte told a news conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince its launch last summer, PURL has supplied around 75 per cent of all missiles for Ukraine\u2019s Patriot batteries and 90 per cent of the ammunition used in other air defense systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to European Pravda, Rutte also said he cannot share all details about specific weapons shipments in a news conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"