KYIV: Germany is ready to held Ukraine obtain reliable security guarantees to ensure "lasting peace" once the conflict with Russia ends, Germany's vice chancellor said on Monday on a visit to Kyiv. Lars Klingbeil also said that Germany, Ukraine's biggest military backer after the United States, planned to spend nine billion euros ($10.5 billion) supporting Kyiv this year and in 2026. "As long as this war continues, we will stand by Ukraine's side, because it is also about our freedom and our security," said the Social Democrat politician.
Kyiv is working with allies to hash out security guarantees seen as crucial in bringing the more than three-year old war to an end. Klingbeil, while noting discussions were in the early stages, stressed that guarantees would have to be reliable to "ensure lasting peace" for Ukraine. "What is important is that there are security guarantees in the end that ensure Ukraine is no longer attacked," he said.
The aim must be that Russian President Vladimir Putin "no longer dares to attack Ukraine in the way he has over the past three and a half years," he added. "We as Germany must naturally also take on responsibility," added Klingbeil, who is also Germany's finance minister. He said there were two components he viewed as particularly important -- that Ukraine has a strong army and that weapons production in Ukraine is ramped up.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has also said that the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine once the war ends is also key. While France and Britain have floated the idea of sending forces to uphold any peace agreement, Germany has sounded cool about the prospect. US President Donald Trump last week ruled out sending US troops but said he envisioned extending US air power as part of potential security guarantees. Russia has repeatedly objected to Western troops being stationed in Ukraine.
Hopes for peace have dimmed after Moscow on Friday ruled out any immediate meeting between Zelensky and Putin, despite efforts by Trump to broker a Ukraine-Russia summit. "The ball is now in Vladimir Putin's court," said Klingbeil. "He is the one who can stop the war immediately, who can stop the killings immediately."
The Russian army on Monday claimed to have captured another village in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region, moving deeper into Ukrainian territory as peace efforts stall. Russian forces are slowly but steadily gaining ground in costly battles for largely devastated areas in eastern and central Ukraine, normally with few inhabitants or intact buildings left.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had seized the settlement of Zaporizke in the region, which Russian troops recently advanced into for the first time in the three-and-a-half-year offensive. Kyiv denies that Russian troops have gained a foothold in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an important industrial hub. The central region of Dnipropetrovsk has previously been largely spared from fighting that has ravaged swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, until Russia said its forces broke through in July.
Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea — that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory. Ukraine said Russia had launched over 100 drones on Monday, killing a 37-year old civilian driver and wounding two people in the northeastern Sumy region. Moscow said Kyiv had launched about two dozen drones targeting western Russia.
Meanwhile, Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Monday blocked legislation to extend child benefits to all Ukrainian refugees in Poland, saying only parents who work should receive them. Nawrocki, a nationalist, promised to cut social welfare benefits during the campaign ahead of his election victory on June 1. "I will not change my mind and I think that (this aid) should be limited only to Ukrainians who are committed to working in Poland," Nawrocki, who took office this month, told reporters. The law put forward by Poland's pro-EU government adopted by the parliament would have extended child benefits until March 2026.
Nawrocki has put forward his own legislation to cut social welfare for Ukrainians. Prime Minister Donald Tusk criticised the veto but his government does not have the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to overcome the move. "We cannot punish people for losing their job — particularly not innocent children. — AFP
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