Britain on Friday announced a “surge” of military support to Ukraine, as the war-ravaged country’s Western backers gathered to drum up more weapons and ammunition to fight off Russia’s invasion and a U.S. envoy flew to St. Petersburg amid ongoing ceasefire efforts. Britain said that in a joint effort with Norway just over $580 million would be spent to provide hundreds of thousands of military drones, radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance contracts to keep Ukrainian armored vehicles on the battlefield. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff was back in Russia on Friday but he didn’t confirm whether he will meet with Putin. Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, met with Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev in St. Petersburg, footage released by Russian media showed. On the eve of the meeting of Ukraine’s Western backers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his country’s air defenses. “Ukraine needs a sufficient number of modern systems like Patriot” missile systems, he said in a post on social media. “A political decision is needed to supply these systems to protect our cities, towns, and the lives of our people — especially from the threat of Russian ballistic weapons. Our partners have such available systems,” Umerov said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot systems since 20 people were killed a week ago, including nine children, when a Russian missile tore through apartment buildings and blasted a playground in his home town. “Ukraine needs at the very least 10 systems that are sufficiently effective specifically against Russian ballistic missiles, and this is where Patriots are second to none,” he said on his Telegram channel ahead of the meeting. “We are counting on decisions.” Zelenskyy joined Friday’s meeting by video link. Russia holds off agreeing to ceasefire Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its fourth year. Ukraine has endorsed a U.S. ceasefire proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions. The Russian delay in accepting Washington’s proposal has frustrated U.S. President Donald Trump and fueled doubts about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin really wants to stop the fighting while his bigger army has momentum on the battlefield. “Russia continues to use bilateral talks with the United States to delay negotiations about the war in Ukraine, suggesting that the Kremlin remains uninterested in serious peace negotiations to end the war,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment late Thursday. Washington remains committed to securing a peace deal, even though four weeks have passed since it made its ceasefire proposals, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said. “It is a dynamic that will not be solved militarily. It is a meat grinder,” Bruce said Thursday about the war, adding that “nothing else can be discussed … until the shooting and the killing stops.” Observers expect a new Russian offensive Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia is preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in coming weeks to ramp up pressure and strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in the negotiations. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that his country would provide Ukraine with four IRIS-T short- to medium-range systems with missiles, as well as 30 missiles for use on […]