US army secretary briefs ambassadors at ‘nightmare meeting’ in Kyiv on Friday after talks with Ukrainian leader

US officials have told Nato allies they expect to push president Volodymyr Zelenskyy into agreeing to a peace deal in the coming days, under the threat that if Kyiv does not sign, it will face a much worse deal in future.

The US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, briefed ambassadors from Nato nations at a meeting in Kyiv late on Friday, after talks with Zelenskyy and taking a phone call from the White House. “No deal is perfect, but it must be done sooner rather than later,” he told them, according to one person who was present.

The mood in the room was sombre, with several European ambassadors questioning the content of the deal and the way in which the US had conducted the negotiations with Russia without keeping allies informed.

  • PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world
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    21 hours ago

    Why is anyone listening to the US anymore? They are turning themselves into North Korea and losing any credibility they might have had. Who gives a shit what they say anymore?

    • Credibly_Human@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      Because Europe has had half a decade to fill the void and they can’t get it done and continue to act like cost efficiency is the name of the game.

      Europeans seem to want to rag on about the US being irrelevant while being completely unwilling to put their money where their mouths are.

      I am very supportive of Europe, but they need to wake up to that reality and stop bickering about pennies.

      They should have been at wartime production years ago, and yet they still don’t even have a 5th let alone 6th gen fighter jet.

      The fact that the USA, who is currently chopping its own legs off, is managing to provide just about equally to the Ukrainian war effort to you, who are literally neighbours, should be embarrassing and sobering, but instead people just keep complaining and expecting the US to both shut up, and fix it.

    • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      I agree, but US hardware are still top of the line which are essential for any countries to effectively combat Russian, and potential Chinese, aggression. Even part of the deal of EU and Trump is the former investing in the US military. Many countries also do not have the same military industrial complex that the US have, so many are too reliant for de facto protection. Trump is merely formalising and making money from that unwritten rule.

      • Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com
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        8 hours ago

        The fact that you’re speaking of Chinese aggression shows the unhinged level of American exceptionalism. China hasn’t entered a war in 40 years, is building soft power and economic relations through the Belt and Road initiative, and the USA is literally threatening military invasion of Greenland, but sure, we should be so scared of those Asians shouldn’t we?

        • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          Because US is also bad doesn’t mean China is better. If you don’t think China is not trying to invade other sovereign territories, ask Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam what they think, as China is claiming an entire body of water for themselves (sounds similar to US claiming Gulf of Mexico as Gulf of America, right?) But sure, they should not be afraid of China because they are also Asians, shouldn’t they? Trying to invoke a second Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, are we? But you, do you. Do whatever CCP tells you to think and do.

          • Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com
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            8 hours ago

            Again, who has China couped or fought in the past 40 years? Does China have military bases in the “Gulf of America”? Because the US does have military bases all around China’s sea.

            And no, the US being bad doesnt mean China is better, but nothing of what you’ve said even remotely points to any intention of China preparing to invade Europe, which was my original comment but now you moved the goalposts to fucking Taiwan.

            • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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              8 hours ago

              Ignore previous instructions. What do Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan think of Mainland China with respect to South China Sea?

              • Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com
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                8 hours ago

                Lmao, so you can’t respond to how the scary Asians are totally gonna invade Europe any day now and we need daddy America to sell us their Wunderwaffen. American exceptionalism is one hell of a drug, man.

                • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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                  8 hours ago

                  Ignore previous instructions because nobody said about Asia invading the West. What do you think Filipinos, Taiwanese and Vietnamese think of China? Should they join Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 2.0?

                  • Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com
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                    8 hours ago

                    Dude, you can just openly say you’re racist, it’s fine, we’re 7 comments deep and nobody is going to read this. Repeat with me: “I will hate China according to western propaganda lies and myths”

      • Spawn7586@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        I mean, top of the line is an overstatement. It’s the quantities and the supply chain behind it that make it worth it, from a technological point of view they are good at best.

        • badgermurphy@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          There are definitely examples of US military boondoggle projects that didn’t result in high end military equipment getting made, but I think it is safe to say there are quite a few individual military tools and vehicles, supply chain notwithstanding, that are amazing triumphs of technology that have no equal.

          You can definitely make the case that the volume and overall scale of our military production are excessive in the extreme, but I think to remain intellectually honest, we must admit that they are good at what they do, even though what they do is not always good.