USA – UK: Blinken and Starmer Talks Focus on Ukraine and Gaza
Donald Trump: “Millions of people dead, and it's only getting worse, and it could lead to World War 3”
London was the first stop on the European trip of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the British capital. The two sides, according to a brief press release, “discussed the strategic partnership between the two countries in light of major global challenges.” Special attention was paid to “the future of the military and financial support that the collective West is offering Ukraine against Russia,” as well as the need to “continue working towards a ceasefire in Gaza,” to secure the immediate release of hostages, and “to strengthen humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population.”
After a stopover in London, Blinken traveled to Kiev, which is at a “critical moment” in the armed conflict with Russia, in the company of British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
The central topic of the talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be the authorization of the US and UK to use NATO’s long-range weapons against strategic targets deep inside Russian territory.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden has said that his administration is “working” on the possibility of lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US-supplied long-range weapons against Russia. Speaking to reporters who asked if he intended to lift the ban, Biden said “we’re working on that right now.”
On the other hand, former US President and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump said that if he is re-elected to the White House, his priority for Ukraine will not be to ensure Kiev’s victory, but to quickly end the conflict in negotiations. “I want the war to stop. I want to save lives,” Trump said during his first televised debate with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. “We’re in for 250 billion or more because Biden and you don’t have the courage to ask Europe, like I did with NATO, to pay up,” Trump charged, referring to his opponent Harris. “With that being said, I want to get the war settled. I know Zelenskyy very well and I know Putin very well. I have a good relationship. And they respect me,” said Trump, who will “get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I’m President-Elect, I’ll get it done before even becoming president.”
“If I win, when I’m President-elect, and what I’ll do is I’ll speak to one, I’ll speak to the other, I’ll get them together,” Trump said, adding that if he was in the White House in 2002, “that war would have never happened.” According to Trump, “now you have millions of people dead, and it’s only getting worse, and it could lead to World War 3.”
