Europe is making a final appeal to the outgoing US President Joe Biden's administration to increase US support for Ukraine to maximize Kyiv's position before the end of the presidential term in January, Bloomberg reports, UNN reports.
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Donald Trump, who will take office on January 20, has said he will push for a quick deal between Kyiv and Moscow, raising concerns in Europe that such a deal would be unfavorable for Ukraine, the newspaper reports.
"European leaders and officials have asked the United States to provide Ukraine with more weapons and artillery, to impose additional sanctions on Russia's key revenue sources, and to target Moscow's ability to acquire banned technologies used in weapons," people familiar with the matter said. Many of the European requests have been informal, the sources said.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made a hastily organized trip to Brussels on Wednesday to reassure NATO and EU allies that the U.S. will step up its efforts to send resources to Ukraine ahead of Trump's inauguration.
"Despite the fact that Biden has little time to fulfill the requests, the US is already working on adopting new sanctions against the Russian oil fleet and North Korea, which has sent troops to help Moscow's war effort, by the end of November," sources familiar with the situation said.
Europe, the publication notes, has stepped up efforts to protect its interests, especially when it comes to Ukraine's military efforts, before Trump becomes president.
The United States has committed to ensuring that all the money it has available for Ukraine will be used before Trump takes office. However, the delivery of some types of weapons could take many months and go beyond Biden's term in office, the newspaper notes.
"We will do everything we can to support Ukraine before the new team comes to power," said Douglas Bush, the head of the US Army's acquisition office, in an interview. - "But at that time it will be their decision.
Several EU leaders are also reportedly pushing the United States to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike military targets in Russia.
Biden has so far resisted this request, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz openly opposes it. "People familiar with the US position believe it will have a limited impact on the battlefield and is not worth the risk of escalation," the publication points out.
"When we talk to our American friends and partners, I do hope that we will continue our support for the Ukrainians, including on deep strikes, in the use of legitimate defense, when targets are used to strike the defense and infrastructure of Ukraine," French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad said in an interview.
For its part, the EU is reportedly preparing for a Trump presidency amid fears that the bloc will have to increase aid to Ukraine due to a reduction in US support. Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the bloc is seeking to speed up negotiations with the UK on a new defense and security pact.