While Washington Dithers on Aid to Ukraine, Europe Is Stepping Into the Van

While American congressional leaders maneuver over a vote on military aid to Ukraine, worried European leaders are stepping up to the plate. One by one, the leaders of seven European countries have taken the train to Kyiv to sign 10-year bilateral security agreements with Ukraine. Driving the move is a new fear in Europe that American aid will not come in time to stave off a Russian land offensive once the black earth dries in April.“The task facing Ukrainian allies is clear: do whatever you can to provide what is needed, [for] as long as it takes,” said Prime Minister Rutte of Denmark. He is the latest European leader to visit Ukraine since January. Promising $2.2 billion in military aid this year, Mr. Rutte went a step further last week than the leaders of Canada, Italy, Germany, France, Denmark, and Britain, who also signed security pacts. The Dutch leader traveled to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, just 25 miles west of the Russian border. President Zelensky praised Mr. Rutte’s visit as “symbolic” for a “city that has survived a lot.” He said Russian shells over the last two years have destroyed more than 20,000 buildings in Kharkiv – schools, universities, churches, kindergartens, and apartment buildings and houses. Mr. Zelensky added: “Here in Kharkiv, it’s 100% obvious that Russia is waging a criminal war. Its objective is only destruction.”Mr. Rutte said the Netherlands would contribute $162 million to a Czech initiative to source 800,000 Soviet-standard artillery shells from around the world this spring. Emblematic of Europe’s harder line to Russia, the initiative is the work of the new Czech President, Petr Pavel. Elected a year ago, the president formerly served as chief of general staff of the Czech Armed Forces and, more recently, chairman of NATO’s military committee.On Monday, Mr. Pavel gave a press conference at Prague with President Macron, visiting from Paris. He endorsed Mr. Macron’s proposal last week to leave doors open to European trainers and advisors serving in Ukraine. Saying Europe should do more to deter Russia, the Czech leader declared that he endorsed news ways to help , “including continuing the discussion about a possible military presence in Ukraine. Let’s not impose limits on ourselves if we do not have to.” Representing the European Union’s second largest economy, Mr. Macron urged European allies not to be “cowards” now that “war is back on our soil.” Russia’s “defeat” in Ukraine, he said, is now “indispensable to security and stability in Europe.”On Sunday, the French conservative leader, Marine Le Pen, accused Mr. Macron of thinking “he can find political salvation in warlike posturing that astounded the French people.” Undeterred, Mr. Macron has invited European foreign and defense ministers to a video conference tomorrow to speed up delivery of ammunition and military aid to Ukraine.Concern that Russia will continue to blow past stop signs is shared on both sides of the Atlantic. In Washington, Defense Secretary Austin warned at a Congressional hearing that NATO would be drawn into war if Ukraine is defeated by Russia. “We know that if Putin is successful here, he will not stop,” Mr. Austin said of Ukraine. “If you’re a Baltic state, you’re really worried about whether or not you’re next.”Almost on cue the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, Dmitry Medvedev, presented on Monday a fantasy map to a youth festival in Sochi. It showed Ukraine reduced to a landlocked rump state about 20 percent of its internationally recognized size. To cheers, he said: “Ukraine is definitely Russia.”Europe increases military aid to Ukraine as more NATO countries reach the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense. Adopted back in 2006, this goal has been a big bone of contention between successive American administrations and members of the North Atlantic Treaty. This year, 18 of the 31 NATO member nations are to hit or surpass the 2 percent goal — a six-fold increase since 2014.Indicators abound of Europe’s growing focus on defense. This spring, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland are to start creating an east-west military transport corridor. It would stretch 900 miles to the Polish border with Lithuania from Amsterdam. Dubbed a “Military Schengen,” this would emulate the visa-free civilian zone. It would ease shipments of military materiel from the Atlantic to the Baltics, three countries deemed particularly vulnerable to Russian attack. The agreement is designed to slash paperwork and to map routes with bridges strong enough to bear tanks.Bulgaria wants NATO to create two more military corridors — to Romania from Greece north through Bulgaria, and to Bulgaria from Albania east through North Macedonia — Anchal Vohra wrote Monday in a Foreign Policy article headlined “The ‘Military Schengen’ Era is Here.”Other countries are sticking out their necks to resist Russia. Last year Finland abandoned almost 80 years of neutrality to join NATO. Last week, Finland’s parliamentary defense committee chairman, Jukka Kopra, said the $2 billion of arms supplied to Ukraine by Finland can be used against Russia. He told Finnish broadcaster YLE: “If necessary, Ukraine should also strike military targets on the Russian side. It is a completely legitimate defensive battle that Ukraine is waging.”On Tuesday, Finland’s western neighbor, Sweden, cleared the final hurdle to join NATO. President Sulyok of Hungary signed the law approving Sweden’s bid. With this approval, Sweden becomes NATO’s 32nd member and the Baltic becomes a NATO sea. The lone exception will be Kaliningrad, the Connecticut-size Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania.Hungary finally came around on NATO expansion, despite foot-dragging by Prime Minister Orbán, widely seen as a friend of President Putin. The other Central European leader seen as soft on Mr. Putin, Prime Minister Fico of Slovakia, was not so lucky. Last weekend, Italy’s defense ministry decided to bring home a French-made SAMP/T air defense system.Italy’s government, run by Prime Minister Meloni, a steadfast supporter of Ukraine, said the one-year deployment was up. Mr. Fico, an opponent of arming Ukraine, complained that withdrawal of the battery left his country defenseless from a missile attack.Europe’s hardening attitudes toward the Kremlin were visible — and audible — at the inauguration Monday of a new NATO air base at Kuçovë, central Albania. Two Eurofighters touched down at the new $50 million NATO-standard base.Then two American F-16 and two F-35 fighter jets from Aviano Air Base in Italy screamed overhead. When quiet returned, Prime Minister Rama of Albania told the audience that he is discussing with NATO the construction of a naval base at Porto Romano, Albania’s largest seaport.These bases are “another element of security from our region of the Western Balkans, which we know well may be endangered from the neo-imperialist threats and ambitions of the Russian Federation,” Mr. Rama said, standing at what was once a Soviet air base. In Soviet days, Kuçovë officially was called “Stalin City.”

While Washington Dithers on Aid to Ukraine, Europe Is Stepping Into the Van

While Washington Dithers on Aid to Ukraine, Europe Is Stepping Into the Van

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