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NATO and Ukraine prep for Trump

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a joint press conference at the summit of the Baltic Sea NATO countries at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on Jan. 14, 2025.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a joint press conference at the summit of the Baltic Sea NATO countries at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, on Jan. 14, 2025.

STT-Lehtikuva/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Willis Sparks
By Willis SparksJanuary 14, 2025
Willis Sparks
Willis Sparks is a senior editor for GZERO Daily. He is also a Director in the Global Macro practice at Eurasia Group, where he has worked since 2005. He has made speeches on international politics on every continent except Antarctica. Willis holds degrees from Brown University, the Juilliard School, Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He also holds an honorary degree from the Moscow Art Theatre School. A native of Macon, Georgia, Willis has worked as a stuntman at New York's Metropolitan Opera. As a child, he declined an opportunity to spend an afternoon riding the Great American Scream Machine, a rollercoaster, with Ronald McDonald, for money. He has never regretted that decision.
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Like everyone else, NATO and Ukraine are preparing for the arrival of Donald Trump and the expectation the incoming president will push for a ceasefire in Ukraine’s nearly three-year war with Russian invaders. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced on Tuesday that the alliance will dispatch naval drones, submarines, ships, and aircraft to patrol the Baltic Sea to prevent Russia from committing acts of sabotage there. NATO officials suspect Russia has deliberately damaged undersea pipelines and data cables in recent months. The mission will be called “Baltic Sentry.”

Also on Tuesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he and France’s President Emmanuel Macron have continued to discuss the possibility that Western troops might be deployed to Ukraine to protect any peace deal his government might sign with Russia – though Zelensky tied this possibility with a request for more clarity on when Ukraine can join the European Union and NATO. This announcement came just before Zelensky welcomed German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius for an official visit to Kyiv.

For now, the war grinds on. A Ukrainian security official said Tuesday that Ukrainian drones had carried out successful overnight attacks on energy and military sites in central Russia. Russian officials say these attacks will “not go unanswered.”

Ukraine’s Air Defense Forces claimed it had shot down 58 Russian drones overnight, including near Kyiv.

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