Ukraine, Germany offers to lead air shield project (and sends jets to Poland)

"In the coming years, according to the budget plans, Germany will invest 10 billion in drones of all kinds, attack and defence, at all altitudes. The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will tonight present the EU's priority projects and formulate her proposals: Germany is offering to take the lead in the Air Defence Shield project." This was said by German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius. "Putin's hybrid behaviour will be increasingly aggressive. We must not let our guard down in strengthening our defence capability."

For the time being, the Germans will deploy Eurofighters at the Polish military base in Malbork to protect NATO's eastern flank and will invest ten billion euros in drones, according to what  Pistorius said on the sidelines of the NATO defence ministers' meeting in Brussels. The White House meanwhile reports that Donald Trump is "optimistic" about the possibility of reaching a peace agreement in Ukraine in the wake of the Gaza accord. The US president will receive Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday: on the table are the sending of long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kiev and cooperation on the production of drones.

On the confrontation with Moscow, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also spoke out, addressing the Contact Group led by London and Berlin. "A key mechanism for achieving peace in Ukraine," he said, "is the NATO priority list or the Purl funding initiative. It is a rigorous process that has proven effective so far. Allies often say that Ukraine's security is synonymous with European security. Well, it is time for all NATO countries to translate words into concrete action in the form of investments: all countries sitting at the table, no freeloaders."

A message of hope then came from the Holy See, through the Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin: "At the moment there are no concrete elements" for peace in Ukraine: "I hope that, having closed the Gaza chapter, because in a certain sense it is closed" President Trump "can also devote himself more to the Ukraine issue and thus be more committed to finding a way out of the war. Many attempts have been made, starting from the meeting in Alaska with President Putin etc. And so far they have not given the hoped for results. But it always remains that America has an important role in all these events", said the cardinal on the sidelines of the Ambassadors' Award.