the rift between the US and Ukraine over Russia shows no sign of narrowing anytime soon White House officials have accused the Ukrainian President Vladimir zalinski of insulting Donald Trump and a planned news conference between Mr zalinski and an American Envoy to Ukraine and Russia was cancelled yesterday the Trump Administration criticized president zelinski for his refusal to strike a deal on access to his country's minerals and said president Trump is very frustrated US National Security adviser Mike Waltz has urged keev to come back to the table to negotiate a deal on Ukraine's mineral wealth let's get
the latest with our Ukraine correspondent James wter house who is in key James welcome to you what's your assessment of what appears to be a deepening feud between the US and Ukraine well I think you have to imagine what it must be like for president zalinsky at the moment in terms of the political position he finds himself in you have an America which is criticizing him from accepting a deal as you say uh which would have given it access to half of the country's natural minerals uh which Washington says should be used to pay it
back for the military aid it's given to date uh and to pay for future security guarantees you have European allies scratching their heads uh as to how they could plug a gap left by America there is division over whether they will send troops to Ukraine after a ceasefire is signed to enforce uh that agreement uh and of course you know overall you have Washington warming to Russia warming to Moscow prioritizing it in uh these peace negotiations that president zilinski is not part of uh at the moment so he has a tall order in the past
uh he could rely on Battlefield success but that was a long time ago now and I think the sort of status quo of Russia both keeping hold of Ukrainian territory and making M you know grinding gains in the notably in the east of Ukraine that's fed of fatigue that is now crept into certainly American uh politics and I think what we're hearing from the White House goes beyond strategy this is uh a change in values which leaves Ukraine uh very much isolated at this moment in time yeah isolated but it does have its European allies
at least in uh the form of France and the UK and their leaders heading to Washington to hold talks with President Trump next week week how much influence uh do you think they are likely to have I think that what will help their cause is a proposal as to how it will increase its defense spending which is something Donald Trump has been uh argued for for a long time in his first term certainly uh if if if if European leaders can show they are spending more on defense if they can come up with a plan
as to how they would uh offer Security in Ukraine uh then that just might buy them a bit of leeway but what European leaders want in return is America's guarantee because uh there is a nervousness on the continent that if uh America pulls its troops out and Europe um increases its defense spending and and defense operations it still can't do do it without America it wants to know America is there in case Russia doesn't stop at Ukraine and Russian aggression continues um not least because of a a more friendly relationship between uh these two uh
these two superpowers with Europe and Ukraine CAU in the middle so these are interesting political times uh and it really does feel like America isn't just adopting a transactional approach to Security in in Europe and Ukraine but it's also flexing its muscles um and we are really are seeing an upending uh of the security world order as we know it but we must not forget that Ukraine is still fighting this War uh Russia is still invading it h and its future is far from assured not least with the political turbulence we are seeing now okay
James and Keith thank you while the foreign secretary David Lamy has said the UK would act as a bridge between Europe and the United States there are growing calls for an increase to the UK's defense budget the former head of the British Armed Forces has said the UK and Europe must step up to the plate to guarantee Ukraine's sovereignty Lial Democrat leader Ed Davey was speaking to BBC breakfast and has urged the prime minister to go further this moment is uh one of the most serious moments I can remember for Britain's security and defense with
our closest Ally United States uh now supporting Russia it seems uh and removing itself from the defense of Europe including the United Kingdom so we've got to make the defense of our country a top priority all the parties at the last election said they had an ambition of going to 2 and a half% of our national spent on our Army Air Force and navy I think we should now do that rapidly with a clear timetable certainly the next two or three years and then start talking cross party about going even further the situation is so
serious let's speak to our political correspondent Harry Farley who's in Westminster Harry good to see you the issue of defense spending um an increasingly urgent one how quickly could they ramp it up if they choose to do so well I think we should be about what we're talking about here the the UK currently spends 2.3% of its overall economy on defense and the talks to go to 2 and a half% that's what Davy was talking there I mean that would be an increase of sort of around5 billion pounds so it's a significant increase and then
that's before we get on to those who are calling for the UK to go much further say to 3% which would be around 20 billion pounds so these are large sums of money the question that immediately is then asked is well how would you pay for it and that is not yeah clear that you heard from eded Davy there the leader of the liberal Democrats here in the UK they're proposing an extra tax or or an increased tax on Digital Services essentially on large digital companies such as Google and so on the that tax is
currently at 2% they're suggesting raising that to 10% so a significant extra tax no word from the government on their thoughts on that although I think it's fair to say that the government has talked a lot about grow growing the economy and a growth agenda and it seems unlikely that they would want to impose an extra tax like that but there are then that leaves the question open as to how uh you pay for the extra defense spending the government has said that they are committed to setting out a path to reaching that two and
a half% figure no timeline on when that will happen or no deadline for when they would actually hit that Target and uh and that all you mentioned uh the former Chief of the defense staff General sck Carter talking about the armed forces being in a process of neglect uh for the last 30 years and said that they are remarkably hollowed out so I think that that Focus his mind gives you an indication of the scale uh of frustration among military leaders certainly at the state of the army all that in the context of obviously the
Prime Minister wanting to or saying that he is ready and willing to put UK troops on the ground in Ukraine to guarantee any eventual peace deal that is reached uh but between Ukraine and Russia okay Harry Farley in Westminster thank you
