NATO prepares to cut U.S. support for Ukraine if Trump wins - mass media

The upcoming U.S. presidential election looms over a meeting of NATO defense chiefs this week as NATO allies prepare to cut U.S. support for Ukraine next year if Donald Trump wins, even as Iran, North Korea and China increase their military aid to russia, reports UNN.

In a closed-door meeting with his NATO counterparts on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke about the upcoming elections in response to allies' questions about them and how they might affect aid to Ukraine, media reports said, saying he could not predict the future, but sources familiar with the meeting said there was still bipartisan support for Ukraine in Congress.

NATO officials say they are preparing for the U.S. to take a smaller role.

“We can't expect the U.S. to continue to shoulder an exorbitant burden” in supporting Ukraine, a senior NATO official said Thursday, ”which is why the Secretary General wants NATO to lead on security assistance, not one ally taking over.

“Europe needs to step up even more,” the official added.

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Trump's possible victory has cast doubt on the future of U.S. aid to Ukraine. The former president last month refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war and called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “sellout” who “should never have allowed this war to begin.

The timing, according to some officials, couldn't be worse.

“I am very concerned,” the NATO spokesman said. “Optimistic is not a word I would use to describe the situation (in Ukraine) right now.

The publication adds that russia continues to make small tactical gains inside Ukraine, outguns the Ukrainians by a factor of three on the battlefield and maintains a “significant” advantage in personnel and ammunition during the harsh winter months, the official said. And U.S. President Joe Biden remains opposed to Ukraine using U.S.-provided long-range missiles to strike deep into russia, a policy with which many NATO officials disagree.

“I don't think anyone would argue that there are no legitimate and invalid targets in russia that could have an impact on the battlefield” for Ukraine, the NATO official said. “Ukraine needs to have a number of capabilities by which it can target those in the war zone.

Austin suggested Friday that Ukraine's own cheap, long-range drones are a better way to destroy targets inside russia, such as ammunition depots, than expensive precision-guided missiles. “UAVs have proven to be highly effective and accurate,” he said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.