Free Republic

The chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Service committees on Saturday expressed they are “very concerned” about the withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany amid President Trump’s feud with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump on Wednesday had announced that he was reviewing a possible reduction of U.S. troops in Germany. “We are very concerned by the decision to withdraw a U.S. brigade from Germany,” the chairs, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), said in a joint statement. “Germany has stepped up in response to President Trump’s call for greater burden sharing, significantly increasing defense spending...

Sir Keir Starmer has declared a 'coalition of the willing' is ready to enforce a peace deal in Ukraine and help deter future Russian attacks. The Prime Minister this weekend said those countries signed up to his peacekeeping blueprint would 'intensify' their planning 'with real urgency'. He added he was ready to commit British 'boots on the ground and planes in the air' as he called on Europe to 'do the heavy lifting' in support of Kyiv. It follows suggestions that UK troops could form part of a 30,000-strong European peacekeeping force within Ukraine. RAF Typhoons might also be deployed...

Russia's Vladimir Putin may yet be humiliated in his scramble to declare a victory in Ukraine by the symbolically important 9 May - even as he prepares to double or even treble his number of forces in the eastern Donbas region. Following his troops' failure to capture Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other parts of the country's north after more than six weeks' of fighting, the Russian president has withdrawn some of his forces. Mr Putin is now beginning to redeploy some of those troops towards the Donbas, parts of which are already controlled by Russian-backed separatist groups. He is said...