Cameron Urges Trump, Republicans to Continue Support for Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a joint press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a joint press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)
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Cameron Urges Trump, Republicans to Continue Support for Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a joint press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron hold a joint press conference at the State Department in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP)

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron held talks in Washington on Tuesday to press senior Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, to continue the military and humanitarian support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Cameron also met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

On Tuesday, Cameron described US support for Ukraine as the “keystone in the arch” of the fight for democracy in his latest appeal to Congress over a stalled package of aid.

The UK Foreign Secretary also warned that success for Kyiv in defeating Russia is “vital for American and European security” as he urges lawmakers across the Atlantic to approve “urgent” further assistance for the country.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock earlier urged increased international efforts to supply more air defense systems in view of the threat of a major Russian offensive on the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

The British Foreign Office said that during his visit to Washington, Lord Cameron will push for Ukraine to be given the resources needed to “hold the line” and “go on the offensive” in 2025.

On Monday, Cameron headed to Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to meet with Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate who is a critic of continued US support for Ukraine. Lawmakers aligned with him are holding up an aid package for Kyiv in Congress.

The UK government said it’s “standard practice” for government ministers to meet allied nations’ opposition leaders in election years.

Blinken met in February with UK Labor Party leader Keir Starmer, who is the favorite to become prime minister in an election later this year. When Cameron was prime minister in 2012, he met the then-Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Cameron said he held a “productive” meeting with Trump in Florida.

The two men have disagreed on issues before, as when Cameron -- as prime minister -- denounced Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering America, which Trump called for during the 2016 presidential campaign. Cameron had called the Muslim ban proposal “divisive, stupid and wrong.”

Cameron was British prime minister during the UK’s 2016 referendum on whether to leave the European Union — a move he opposed but Trump enthusiastically supported. Cameron resigned after voters narrowly rejected his call to remain in the bloc.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak unexpectedly brought Cameron back into government last year as Britain’s top diplomat.

Ahead of his trip, Cameron said that “success for Ukraine and failure for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin are vital for American and European security.”

“This will show that borders matter, that aggression doesn’t pay and that countries like Ukraine are free to choose their own future,” he said. “The alternative would only encourage Putin in further attempts to re-draw European borders by force, and would be heard clearly in Beijing, Tehran and North Korea.”

In Washington, Cameron plans to urge US lawmakers to approve a new aid package for Ukraine, warning Congress that it is putting the security of the West at risk by continuing to hold up the funding. He’s due to hold talks with lawmakers including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and is hoping to meet House Speaker Mike Johnson, whose role is key.

In a video posted last week on social network X, Cameron said: “Speaker Johnson can make it happen in Congress.”

Cameron will emphasize the importance of increasing economic pressure on Russia and giving Ukraine “the military and humanitarian support it needs to hold the line this year and go on the offensive in 2025,” the foreign ministry said.

A $60-billion package of military aid is bogged down in the House of Representatives as populist conservatives seek to block further funding for the two-year-old conflict and some mainstream Republicans demand concessions on border security before supporting the bill.

After Cameron urged US lawmakers in February not to show “the weakness displayed against Hitler” in the 1930s, Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene said he should “worry about his own country.”

Gaza War

Cameron is also due to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, including efforts to reach a “sustainable cease-fire” and get more aid into Gaza, in talks with officials including Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

The UK is sending a Royal Navy ship to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster efforts to open a maritime aid corridor between Cyprus and a temporary US-built pier in Gaza.

Cameron will reiterate Israel’s right to self-defense in accordance with international law after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, but will stress that major changes need to be made to ensure the safety of aid workers on the ground, his office said.



Hurricane Milton Marches Across Central Florida, Destroying Homes

A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, US October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, US October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
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Hurricane Milton Marches Across Central Florida, Destroying Homes

A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, US October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
A motorist drives past broken utility poles downed by strong wind gusts as Hurricane Milton approaches Fort Myers, Florida, US October 9, 2024. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

Hurricane Milton marched across central Florida on Thursday after making landfall on the state's west coast hours earlier, whipping up deadly tornadoes, destroying homes and knocking out power to nearly 2 million customers.
The storm made landfall around 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT) on Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour (195 kph) near Siesta Key, the US National Hurricane Center said.
By 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT), wind speeds had reduced to 105 mph (165 kph), dropping Milton to a Category 2 hurricane, nonetheless still considered extremely dangerous. The eye of the storm was 75 miles (120 km) southwest of Orlando in the center of the state.
A flash flood emergency was in effect for the Tampa Bay area including the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, the hurricane center said, with St. Petersburg already receiving 16.6 inches (422 mm) of rain on Wednesday.
The eye of the storm landed in Siesta Key, a barrier island town of some 5,400 off Sarasota about 60 miles (100 km) south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, which is home to more than 3 million people.
Governor Ron DeSantis said he hoped Tampa Bay, once seen as the potential bull's eye, could dodge major damage and that the worst of the predicted storm surge could be avoided thanks to the landfall coming before the high tide. Forecasters said seawater could still rise as high as 13 feet (4 meters).
DeSantis reported Milton had also spawned at least 19 tornadoes caused damage in numerous counties, destroying around 125 homes, most of them mobile homes.
"At this point, it's too dangerous to evacuate safely, so you have to shelter in place and just hunker down," DeSantis said upon announcing the landfall.
At least two deaths were reported at a retirement community following a suspected tornado in Fort Pierce on the eastern coast of Florida, NBC News reported, citing St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson. His department did not immediately respond to a request for details.
Pearson estimated 100 homes were destroyed in the county where some 17 tornadoes touched down, NBC said.
More than 1.8 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
The storm was expected to cross the Florida peninsula overnight and emerge into the Atlantic, still with hurricane force, on Thursday.
Once past Florida, it should weaken over the western Atlantic, possibly dropping below hurricane strength but still posing a storm-surge danger on the state's Atlantic Coast.
In a state already battered by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, as many as two million people were ordered to evacuate, and millions more live in the projected path of the storm.
Much of the southern US experienced the deadly force of Hurricane Helene as it cut a swath of devastation through Florida and several other states. Both storms are expected to cause billions of dollars in damage.
ZOO ANIMALS PROTECTED
While human evacuees jammed the highways and created gasoline shortages, animals including African elephants, Caribbean flamingos and pygmy hippos were riding out the storm at Tampa's zoo.
Nearly a quarter of Florida's gasoline stations were out of fuel on Wednesday afternoon.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency had moved millions of liters (gallons) of water, millions of meals and other supplies and personnel into the area. None of the additional aid will detract from recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene, the agency's administrator, Deanne Criswell, said earlier on Wednesday.
Trucks have been running 24 hours a day to clear mounds of debris left behind by Helene before Milton potentially turned them into dangerous projectiles, DeSantis said.
About 9,000 National Guard personnel were deployed in Florida, ready to assist recovery efforts, as were 50,000 electricity grid workers in anticipating of widespread power outages, DeSantis said.
Search-and-rescue teams were prepared to head out as soon as the storm passes, working through the night if needed, DeSantis said.
"It's going to mean pretty much all the rescues are going to be done in the dark, in the middle of the night, but that's fine. They're going to do that," DeSantis said.