Preparations for deliveries for Ukraine below manner, Nato’s high Europe commander says, as he warns Russia is and can stay menace
Jakub Krupa
Preparations are totally below manner for supply of Patriot missile methods to Ukraine, Nato’s most senior commander in Europe confirmed, as he warned that Russia is and can stay a menace to the alliance in Europe even when a peaceable answer to the struggle in Ukraine is discovered.
Nato’s Supreme Allied Commande Europe, Gen Alexus Grynkewich, confirmed this morning that the steerage he has been given was to ship the Patriots to Ukraine as rapidly as doable, making good on US president Trump’s announcement earlier this week.
“I’m not going to divulge to the Russians or anybody else the precise numbers of weapons that we’re transferring or when these will occur, however what I’ll say is that preparations are below manner.
We’re working very intently with the Germans on the Patriot switch, and the steerage that I’ve been given has been to transfer out as rapidly as doable.
So we’re doing that. After which we’re additionally taking a look at different capabilities and what these wants are, and dealing on proposals for our political management.”
He added:
We’re going to maneuver as rapidly as we are able to on this.
He stated that Patriot methods already in Europe may be rapidly moved to Ukraine, and later backfilled from the manufacturing line within the US.
“Air defence is important on the modern battlefield, and we’ve seen the scale of recent Russian attacks against Ukraine, so it is a key focus area,” he stated.
Grynkewich, a former fighter pilot who took essentially the most senior allied submit in Europe submit earlier this month, additionally warned that even when there’s a peaceable answer in Ukraine, Russia will stay a menace.
“Battle persists on our doorstep in Ukraine.
Whereas we search a peaceable decision, even when that decision comes, the Russian capabilities which might be there’ll reconstitute and simply by their very existence shall be one thing that we’ll have to think about from the army perspective, and perceive the way it threatens the Alliance and the freedoms that we maintain expensive.
Russia will undoubtedly, in my thoughts, stay a permanent menace.”
Grynkewich additionally careworn the urgency of Nato stepping up extra broadly, as he warned concerning the prospect of a number of conflicts taking place on the similar time, together with a struggle in Europe and a struggle within the Pacific.
“These of you who take heed to our nice secretary common, Mark Rutte, have heard him say that the factor [China’s] Xi might be going to do earlier than he decides to go throughout the Taiwan Strait is give his pal Putin a name and ask him to assist.
That, to me, implies that each of this stuff might occur collectively, however we’re going to want each little bit of equipment and gear and munitions that we are able to as a way to meet that.
And we’ve all heard the yr 2027, that’s simply two years away, after we suppose that Xi could possibly be able to make his transfer, and that telephone name to Putin may come.
So time is of the essence.”
I’ll carry you all key updates from throughout Europe at this time.
It’s Thursday, 17 July 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa right here, and that is Europe Reside.
Good morning.
Key occasions
Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed as new Ukrainian prime minister
Yulia Svyrydenko, 39-year-old economist and former deputy prime minister, has been confirmed the the nation’s parliament as the brand new prime minister of Ukraine, lawmakers Oleksiy Honcharenko and Yaroslav Zheleznyak simply reported.
Svyrydenko performed a crucial position in Kyiv’s negotiations with the US over its entry to mineral sources, with Reuters noting that “her nomination sends a signal to Washington that Kyiv is prioritising the relationship.”
She replaces Denys Shmyhal, who served within the submit for 5 years, the longest in Ukraine’s historical past.
The outgoing prime minister will now turn out to be the nation’s defence minister, changing Rustem Umerov, who’s rumoured to turn out to be the nation’s new ambassador to the US.
Extra private modifications are anticipated to observe, with defence and digital seen as most important priorities for the brand new administration.
We’re simply listening to from Reuters that Russia and Ukraine have exchanged extra our bodies of their struggle useless, a Kremlin aide stated, as a part of an settlement struck at June talks in Istanbul.
Vladimir Medinsky, the pinnacle of Russia’s delegation at these peace talks, stated in an announcement on Telegram that Moscow had handed over the our bodies of 1,000 Ukrainian troopers and had obtained 19 our bodies of its personal fallen troopers in return.
Starmer hosts Germany’s Merz for post-Brexit bilateral treaty signing
Aletha Adu in London and Deborah Cole in Berlin
Keir Starmer will welcome Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, to Downing Avenue on Thursday to signal a brand new bilateral treaty that guarantees tighter motion on smuggling gangs, expanded defence exports and nearer industrial ties between the UK and Germany.
The treaty features a German dedication to make it unlawful to facilitate unauthorised migration to the UK, closing off a key provide route utilized by smugglers working from German territory.
UK officers say the brand new regulation, anticipated to be handed by the top of the yr, will give police and prosecutors the instruments to focus on warehouses and logistical hubs used to retailer small boats and engines linked to Channel crossings.
Police will be capable to raid warehouses, seize property and arrest facilitators even the place no migrants are current, a transfer the UK authorities says will considerably disrupt the provision chain behind harmful Channel crossings.
That is a comparatively late first go to for a German chancellor to the UK. Merz took workplace in Might however officers on either side say the delay was deliberate.
In his first week, Merz travelled to Kyiv with Starmer, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, in a present of European unity. London and Berlin agreed Merz’s go to ought to coincide with the signing of the treaty.
It’s anticipated to be centered on mutual safety, together with cyber and hybrid assaults, stating that “there is no strategic threat to one which would not be a strategic threat to the other”.
A senior German official careworn the treaty shouldn’t be meant to “replace” Nato ensures or intervene with a future UK-EU safety association, however added that Brexit had left “gaps” in coordination that wanted to be stuffed.
Jakub Krupa
Elsewhere, we shall be monitoring the go to of the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, to London, the place he’ll signal a treaty between Germany and the UK.
The bilateral friendship and cooperation treaty marks the newest part of Starmer’s bid to rebuild Britain’s affect in Europe – with out reopening formal ties with the EU – but additionally a diplomatic win for Merz’s new administration in Germany.
So let’s cross to Aletha Adu in London and Deborah Cole in Berlin for extra particulars on the deal.
Preparations for deliveries for Ukraine below manner, Nato’s high Europe commander says, as he warns Russia is and can stay menace
Jakub Krupa
Preparations are totally below manner for supply of Patriot missile methods to Ukraine, Nato’s most senior commander in Europe confirmed, as he warned that Russia is and can stay a menace to the alliance in Europe even when a peaceable answer to the struggle in Ukraine is discovered.
Nato’s Supreme Allied Commande Europe, Gen Alexus Grynkewich, confirmed this morning that the steerage he has been given was to ship the Patriots to Ukraine as rapidly as doable, making good on US president Trump’s announcement earlier this week.
“I’m not going to divulge to the Russians or anybody else the precise numbers of weapons that we’re transferring or when these will occur, however what I’ll say is that preparations are below manner.
We’re working very intently with the Germans on the Patriot switch, and the steerage that I’ve been given has been to transfer out as rapidly as doable.
So we’re doing that. After which we’re additionally taking a look at different capabilities and what these wants are, and dealing on proposals for our political management.”
He added:
We’re going to maneuver as rapidly as we are able to on this.
He stated that Patriot methods already in Europe may be rapidly moved to Ukraine, and later backfilled from the manufacturing line within the US.
“Air defence is important on the modern battlefield, and we’ve seen the scale of recent Russian attacks against Ukraine, so it is a key focus area,” he stated.
Grynkewich, a former fighter pilot who took essentially the most senior allied submit in Europe submit earlier this month, additionally warned that even when there’s a peaceable answer in Ukraine, Russia will stay a menace.
“Battle persists on our doorstep in Ukraine.
Whereas we search a peaceable decision, even when that decision comes, the Russian capabilities which might be there’ll reconstitute and simply by their very existence shall be one thing that we’ll have to think about from the army perspective, and perceive the way it threatens the Alliance and the freedoms that we maintain expensive.
Russia will undoubtedly, in my thoughts, stay a permanent menace.”
Grynkewich additionally careworn the urgency of Nato stepping up extra broadly, as he warned concerning the prospect of a number of conflicts taking place on the similar time, together with a struggle in Europe and a struggle within the Pacific.
“These of you who take heed to our nice secretary common, Mark Rutte, have heard him say that the factor [China’s] Xi might be going to do earlier than he decides to go throughout the Taiwan Strait is give his pal Putin a name and ask him to assist.
That, to me, implies that each of this stuff might occur collectively, however we’re going to want each little bit of equipment and gear and munitions that we are able to as a way to meet that.
And we’ve all heard the yr 2027, that’s simply two years away, after we suppose that Xi could possibly be able to make his transfer, and that telephone name to Putin may come.
So time is of the essence.”
I’ll carry you all key updates from throughout Europe at this time.
It’s Thursday, 17 July 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa right here, and that is Europe Reside.
Good morning.
