Ukraine and US to Cooperate on Drones, Nordic Countries Follow, Netherlands Also to Supply 5 Billion in Military Aid

On August 5th, approaching the August 8th deadline, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine has finalized a draft of a cooperation plan with the United States on drones, and will further discuss the details. Zelenskyy previously estimated that the scale of this cooperation could reach up to 10 billion dollars.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy posted on social media that he had spoken with U.S. President Trump, exchanging views on bilateral defense cooperation between Ukraine and the United States, including the drone cooperation plan. He emphasized that this could become "one of the most significant agreements."

According to a report by the New York Post last month, Zelenskyy said in an interview that Ukraine and the United States are currently negotiating on drone cooperation, and Ukraine plans to provide proven drone technology for use in actual combat to exchange for American weapons. Zelenskyy described this as a "win-win" cooperation at the time.

Zelenskyy also revealed that during the call, both sides also exchanged views on Russia's recent expansion of air attacks. He pointed out that Trump was fully aware of Russia's air attacks on Kyiv, and both sides discussed possible sanctions measures. Zelenskyy said, "If Russia had not deliberately prolonged the war, the war should have ended months ago."

Russia continues to intensify its summer offensive and air raids against Ukraine. On the evening of July 30th to the early morning of July 31st, Kyiv suffered a large-scale air attack, resulting in 31 deaths, including 5 children, and 179 people injured. Zelenskyy described it as the most brutal attack on Kyiv by Russia.

President of the United States, Trump, after meeting with NATO Secretary General Rutte in mid-July, announced that the U.S. would supply military equipment, with European allies bearing the costs, and NATO coordinating the transfer to Ukraine. Subsequently, NATO, Ukraine, and the U.S. reached a new cooperation mechanism recently, called the "Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL)", under which Ukraine proposes a priority list of required weapons, with each batch of aid amounting to approximately 5 billion dollars. The weapons are donated or procured by a country decided by NATO members under the coordination of Secretary General Rutte. A European official who did not want to be named pointed out that NATO allies hope to provide a total of 10 billion dollars worth of weapons to Ukraine through this approach.

Soon after, the Dutch government announced on August 4th that it would provide the first 5 billion euros of military aid to Ukraine, including directly purchasing weapons from the United States, including the Patriot air defense system. The Netherlands became the first country to fulfill its commitment to pay for military equipment purchased from the U.S. and transfer it to Ukraine after the agreement between NATO and the U.S. Dutch Defense Minister Breukelman stated on social media X: As the first NATO ally, the Netherlands will provide 5 billion euros of American weapons assistance to Ukraine, including missiles such as the Patriot.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy posted on social media that this military aid is the first instance under the NATO mechanism for military aid to Ukraine, especially significant at a time when Russia is intensifying its air attacks on Ukraine. He stated that this achievement comes from active communication after the NATO summit in The Hague, and he has already called the Dutch Prime Minister Schout to thank him. The Dutch Prime Minister earlier also stated on a social platform that the Netherlands took the initiative to act, providing the Ukrainian with American air defense systems to counter the increasing large-scale drone and missile attacks by Russian forces. He emphasized that Ukraine faces daily attacks from Russia while also defending the freedom and security of the entire Europe.

NATO Secretary General Rutte welcomed this decision and encouraged other member states to follow. He said: This relates to whether Ukraine can obtain the urgently needed weapons to resist Russia. I have written to all NATO member states, urging them to take part together. I expect more member states to announce measures in the near future.

After the Netherlands announced on August 4th that it would directly purchase weapons from the United States, Zelenskyy pointed out that Sweden, Norway, and Denmark will also jointly provide military aid worth 5 billion euros. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Whittaker told Reuters that he expects more member states to announce measures in the coming weeks, and the U.S. will cooperate to accelerate the delivery progress.

Other than the Netherlands, Germany is also accelerating its military aid to Ukraine. The German Ministry of Defense stated on August 1st that it would deliver two existing Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine within a few days, and plans to provide more equipment in the future. German Defense Minister Bistritz pointed out that the premise is that the U.S. must agree to expedite the deployment of related equipment to fill the gap in Germany's air defense capabilities, ensuring its fulfillment of NATO defense obligations.

German Defense Minister had previously stated on July 23rd that Germany needs a firm assurance from the U.S. that if Berlin authorities transfer its two Patriot anti-missile systems to Ukraine, Germany can quickly receive replacement systems within 6 to 8 months. However, the U.S. initially hoped that European allies would first deliver their own Patriot systems to Ukraine before the U.S. provided replacement systems, which caused some concerns.

President of the United States, Trump, originally adopted a conciliatory stance toward Russia in an attempt to end the war that has lasted more than three years, but he has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine and threatened: If Moscow does not make progress in ending the conflict before August 8th, sanctions and other measures will begin to be implemented.

Analyzes point out that at the time when U.S. President Trump expressed dissatisfaction with Russia's continuous attacks on Ukraine, transatlantic cooperation between the U.S. and Europe on the issue of Ukraine has restarted.

According to a report by Bloomberg on Tuesday afternoon, citing informed sources, Russia is weighing options for making concessions to Trump, which may include reaching an air ceasefire agreement with Ukraine to try to prevent Russia from facing the threat of further sanctions. However, this does not necessarily mean that Russia hopes for a real ceasefire.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1839667956738048/

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