Support for Ukraine remains “unwavering,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Tuesday, adding that more than 20 billion euros (US$22.8 billion) in security assistance has already been pledged by members of the alliance in the first three months of the year.
Rutte spoke in Ukraine’s port city of Odesa, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
His visit came days after two Russian ballistic missiles struck the city of Sumy on Sunday morning, killing at least 35 people, including two children, and injuring 119.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The attack on the northeastern city, about 30km from Ukraine’s border with Russia, marked the second large-scale attack in just over a week to result in significant civilian casualties.
Earlier this month, about 20 people were killed, including nine children, after a Russian ballistic missile struck Zelenskiy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih on April 4.
“I’m here today because I believe Ukraine’s people deserve real peace, real safety and security in their country, in their homes,” Rutte said during a joint news conference with Zelenskiy.
Photo: Reuters
The two met with wounded Ukrainian soldiers at a hospital in Odesa.
It was Rutte’s first trip to Ukraine since US President Donald Trump assumed the lead in ceasefire negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow, which have included several rounds of talks in Saudi Arabia.
“These discussions are not easy, not least in the wake of this horrific violence, but we all support President Trump’s push for peace,” Rutte said, referring to the recent strikes.
Meanwhile, Ukraine and its European partners are continuing to develop the infrastructure for the “coalition of the willing,” which is expected to act as a long-term security guarantee aimed at deterring Russian aggression after a ceasefire is in place.
The multinational force is seen as a first test of Europe’s willingness to defend itself and its interests.
Zelenskiy said that Turkey could play a significant role in providing Black Sea security guarantees for Ukraine.
“This is not about ending the war, unfortunately,” Zelenskiy said, commenting on a security meeting being hosted by Turkey. “It’s about what comes after — the security guarantees for Ukraine following a ceasefire.”
Military representatives from Ukraine, France, the UK and Turkey were discussing the presence of a military contingent in the Black Sea as part of those guarantees, he said.
“The fact that these talks are ongoing, that we are preparing for this hopeful, soon-to-be achieved eventuality — NATO tries to steer that in the direction we think would be advisable,” Rutte said.
The meeting in Turkey, which concluded yesterday, came less than a month after the US announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to “eliminate the use of force” in the Black Sea.
However, key details remained unresolved, and the Kremlin has tied the deal to the lifting of some Western sanctions.
Commenting on ongoing negotiations with the US over a revised draft of an agreement that would give the US access to Ukraine’s mineral resources, Zelenskiy described last week’s technical talks in Washington as positive, with more consultations expected in the coming days.
The meeting was a technical session for expert teams and “both sides concluded the meeting on a positive note,” he said.
Zelenskiy added that online and in-person discussions would continue throughout the week, and once the teams are ready, they would present the outcomes.
Meanwhile, residents of Sumy were still mourning their loved ones killed in Sunday’s attack. Among the dead was Olena Kohut, pianist and a solo organist at the regional philharmonic. A farewell ceremony was held in the local theater where she often played.
Dozens came to say goodbye to the gifted musician and piano teacher, who was killed while on her way to rehearsals.
Mourners wept, holding red roses, as they approached her coffin at the theater, where she taught piano and mentored young musicians.
The crowd clapped in respect as her coffin was driven away and out of sight.
“The Sumy region lost a lot with her,” said Serhiy Dorofieiev, 39, director of the theater where Kohut worked.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
A Hong Kong astronaut is to join a Chinese space mission for the first time as part of a three-person crew launching today, as Beijing edges closer to its goal of landing people on the moon. The Tiangong space station — crewed by teams of three astronauts that are typically rotated every six months — is the crown jewel of China’s space program, boosted by billions in state investment in a bid to catch up with the US and Russia. The Shenzhou-23 mission is to blast off at 11:08pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts to
UPGRADED ALERT: The risk inside DR Congo is now considered ‘very high,’ while neighboring countries face a ‘high’ threat as the outbreak continues, the WHO said Ebola is spreading faster than responders can track it in eastern Congo, where health workers managed to follow up with barely one in five identified contacts in a single day. Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) reported 83 confirmed infections, 746 suspected cases and 1,603 identified contacts as of Thursday, but health workers were able to follow up on only 342 contacts that day — about 21 percent of the total under monitoring — data released by the DR Congo Ministry of Public Health on Friday showed. The figures suggest the response is falling behind the outbreak itself,
RSS