EU’s Borrell, in Kyiv, Says Bloc Is Preparing Long-Term Security Pledges

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as they visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, during the marking of Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as they visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, during the marking of Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
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EU’s Borrell, in Kyiv, Says Bloc Is Preparing Long-Term Security Pledges

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as they visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, during the marking of Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell as they visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, during the marking of Defenders of Ukraine Day in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday that Ukraine needed more military aid and he promised ongoing EU support.

"Ukraine needs more capabilities & needs them faster," he said in a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He said he had discussed "continuous EU military assistance" during his first in-person meeting with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

"We are preparing long-term security commitments for Ukraine," Borrell added.

Umerov, whose appointment by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was approved by parliament on Sept. 6, thanked Borrell in a statement on X for "continuous support" and said the meeting was "a starting point for great cooperation."

He said their discussions of EU military aid to Ukraine covered "artillery & ammunition, air defense, EW & long-term assistance programs, trainings, and defense industry localization" in Ukraine. EW is an acronym for electronic warfare.

This week the European Defense Agency said in response to questions from Reuters that seven EU countries had ordered ammunition under a procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted Western stocks.



Trump Picks Massad Boulos to Serve as Adviser on Arab, Middle Eastern Affairs

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs alongside Massad Boulos (The AP)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs alongside Massad Boulos (The AP)
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Trump Picks Massad Boulos to Serve as Adviser on Arab, Middle Eastern Affairs

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs alongside Massad Boulos (The AP)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs alongside Massad Boulos (The AP)

US President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday said Lebanese American businessman Massad Boulos would serve as senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social. Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump's daughter Tiffany, met repeatedly with Arab American and Muslim leaders during the election campaign, Reuters reported.

It was the second time in recent days that Trump chose the father-in-law of one of his children to serve in his administration.

On Saturday, Trump said that he had picked his son-in-law Jared Kushner's father, real estate mogul Charles Kushner, to serve as US ambassador to France.

In recent months, Boulos campaigned for Trump to drum up Lebanese and Arab American support, even as the US-backed Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Boulos has powerful roots in both countries.

His father and grandfather were both figures in Lebanese politics and his father-in-law was a key funder of the Free Patriotic Movement, a Christian party aligned with Hezbollah.

His son Michael and Tiffany Trump were married in an elaborate ceremony at Trump's Florida Mar-a-Lago Club in November 2022, after getting engaged in the White House Rose Garden during Trump's first term.

Boulos has been in touch with interlocutors across Lebanon's multipolar political world, three sources who spoke to him in recent months say, a rare feat in Lebanon, where decades-old rivalries between factions run deep.

Boulos is a friend of Suleiman Frangieh, a Christian ally of Hezbollah and its candidate for Lebanon's presidency. He is also in touch with the Lebanese Forces Party, a vehemently anti-Hezbollah Christian faction, the sources say, and has ties to independent lawmakers.