According to the European edition of the US Political News Network, the draft military plan will be submitted to the European Commission on 16th, and plans to show that within five years the EU needs "to have a strong enough defense to effectively deter an opponent."
According to reports, the plan document sets a series of priorities. Among them, one of the main goals is to fill capability gaps in nine areas: air defense and missile defense, strategic support forces, artillery systems, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, missiles and ammunition, drones and anti-drones, etc. It also mentioned that it would provide large amounts of military assistance to Ukraine to turn it into a "steel porcupine" that can deter Russia. The document also emphasizes that the EU will continue to maintain close coordination with NATO.
According to Russian media reports on the 16th, Pushkov, Chairman of the Information Policy Committee of the Russian Federation Council, said that the European Commission and some of the European countries most hostile to Russia are turning the EU into a military bloc. Pushkov said that the shift of U.S. interests from Europe to the Indo-Pacific region forced the Europeans to turn the EU into a military and political alliance more independent of the United States. Moreover, EU elites see military transformation as an effective way to maintain power.
And the day before, Polish Foreign Minister Zikorsky said that Ukraine plans to fight Russia for another three years. For this, he called on European allies to be prepared and continue to support Kiev. Today Russian TV said that Russian political scientist Megho believes that Kiev's plan to fight Russia for another three years is unrealistic, and the statement of the Polish Foreign Minister has no factual support. The Russian Federation Committee's First Vice-President for International Affairs Jabarov said: "Zikorsky's statement applies to the whole of Western Europe. I don't think Ukraine is prepared to fight, but the West and NATO are prepared to fight for another three years, the aim is to maximise the weakening of Russia."
Defence ministers of NATO member states met in Brussels on Friday to focus on coordinating military aid and long-term defence support for Ukraine.U.S. Defence Secretary Hegel hopes the allies will purchase more U.S. weapons through the "Ukraine Priority List" mechanism to strengthen military aid to Ukraine.
In addition, the leaders of the United States and Uzbekistan will meet at the White House on the 17th. It is expected that the two sides will discuss the issue of the United States providing "Tomahawk" cruise missiles to Uzbekistan. TASS news agency quoted Russian Presidential Press Secretary Peskov as saying on the 16th that if the United States decides to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, it will mark an escalation of the situation in Ukraine to a new level.