Trump wants to reduce military contingent in Europe and demand payment - ANSA

According to the agency, Trump is not planning any hasty withdrawal from Europe and Ukraine, but Europeans will have to do more for their security.

According to a European diplomatic source, Trump essentially wants to reduce the US contingent by a fifth - by about 20,000 people - and intends to ask for a financial contribution to maintain the remaining troops on this side of the Atlantic.

The source said that Trump argued that the American troops were a deterrent, and therefore their costs could not be borne by American taxpayers alone.

According to the source, Trump seems to have been persuaded not to abandon Ukraine, as it would be seen as a second Kabul. The diplomat explained that he didn't want such a scenario to be associated with his name. The US president, however, insists that Europeans shoulder the financial burden of Ukraine, as Trump considers it essentially a European problem.

According to ANSA, it is too early to say how much the bill will be. Trump has returned to defining about 5% of GDP as the new NATO standard. However, this goal is too high for Europe.

In her speech to the European Defense Agency (EDA), EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said that last year, EU countries collectively spent an average of 1.9%, while Russia spent 9%. Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius went even further. He commented that Lithuania would spend 5-6% on defense in the next few years, and that, being Lithuanian, he might be biased, but he thought this was what they needed.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that the alliance should invest more in defense, increase defense industry production, and assume a larger share of the costs of helping Ukraine. According to him, “If this new Trump administration is willing to keep on supplying Ukraine from its defense industrial base, the bill will be paid by the Europeans, I'm absolutely convinced of this, we have to be willing to do that.”