Skip next section China calls for ‘fair, lasting’ peace in Ukraine
03/07/2025March 7, 2025
China calls for ‘fair, lasting’ peace in Ukraine
China hopes to achieve a “fair, lasting and binding peace agreement” that would be acceptable to all parties in the Ukraine war, said Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
He was speaking at an annual press conference on the sidelines of the parliamentary sessions.
“China is willing to cooperate with the international community in accordance with the wishes of relevant parties to achieve a final resolution of the crisis and lasting peace, and will continue to play a constructive role,” he said.
European countries have called on China to use its economic leverage over Russia to press for an end to the war, but Beijing has refused to criticize its partner or cut its
https://p.dw.com/p/4rUBy
Skip next section What would it cost Europe to defend itself without US help?03/07/2025March 7, 2025
What would it cost Europe to defend itself without US help?
Dirk Kaufmann
Donald Trump’s controversial initiative to end the war in Ukraine — trying to force Ukraine into negotiating a peace deal with Russia without committing to providing security guarantees for Kyiv — has also reignited the longstanding issue of how Europe can fend for itself. What would that mean in economic and financial terms?
Read DW’s
https://p.dw.com/p/4rU9q
Skip next section Trump casts doubt on NATO’s mutual defense pact
03/07/2025March 7, 2025
Trump casts doubt on NATO’s mutual defense pact
President Trump on Thursday again brought up his complaint that the US’ NATO allies do not spend enough of their budgets on defense, a common line from his first term in office.
“If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
His previous threats encouraged more spending from European partners, but this time around even that appears to not be enough.
Trump also questioned whether NATO member France or a “couple of others” would come to the US’ defense it was attacked, in line with Article 5 of the alliance.
France has encouraged its for its own security.
French President Emmanuel Macron responded to Trump’s comments by pointing out how European allies, including France, had joined the US invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11.
“We are loyal and faithful allies,” Macron said.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rUAV
Skip next section What would a ‘Sky Shield’ for Ukraine look like? DW talks to defense analyst03/07/2025March 7, 2025
What would a ‘Sky Shield’ for Ukraine look like? DW talks to defense analyst
Phil Gayle
Europe could deploy a fleet of 120 fighter jets to secure Ukraine’s skies over Kyiv and western Ukraine to protect towns and cities from Russian air strikes.
Proponents of the defense plan, called “Sky Shield,” argue that the plan would be a European-led air protection zone operated separately from NATO.
“It is reactive at the moment but it does threaten a hot war (with Russia), particularly if the US, as we suspect it might, turns its back on Europe because it becomes fascinated by the Chinese problems that it sees coming along the road, and Europe has to look to itself,” Stuart Crawford, a former army officer and a defense analyst, told DW.
Watch the full conversation here.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rU9p
Skip next section Zelenksyy says US-Ukraine talks to take place in Saudi Arabia next week
03/07/2025March 7, 2025
Zelenksyy says US-Ukraine talks to take place in Saudi Arabia next week
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy said he will be meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince in Saudi Arabia next Monday, adding that his team will stay on for talks with American partners to end the war in Ukraine.
“Next Monday, I have a visit planned to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with the Crown Prince. After that, my team will stay in Saudi Arabia to work with our American partners. Ukraine is most interested in peace,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X, emphasizing Ukraine’s
The White House also confirmed the meeting, but said that details were still being discussed.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who also has a leading role in Ukraine talks, said the talks will likely happen in Riyadh or Jeddah. “But I think the larger discussion for us… is to get a peace deal done,” he said.
This comes days after Trump and Zelenskyy’s televised blow-up in the Oval Office over security guarantees, among other things.
The meeting due next week appears to be a careful step in re-testing relations between the two allies without the involvement of either Trump or Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy later wrote a letter to Trump, where he even gave specifics on what the first stage of a peace process could look like, and which the US President called a “very positive first step.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4rU7q
Skip next section Welcome to our coverage03/07/2025March 7, 2025
Welcome to our coverage
More than three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European powers and the US appear to have different approaches toward peace in Ukraine.
at a crisis summit. The bloc endorsed the European Commission’s plan to mobilize €800 billion ($860 billion) for defense spending and committed to examine a proposal to provide members with EU-backed loans of up to €150 billion “as a matter of urgency.”
Ukrainian and European leaders strongly maintain that the in Ukraine. But there is a growing sense of need for the European continent to be less dependent on Washington for its security.
https://p.dw.com/p/4rU6p
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