TRUMP: UKRAINE PEACE PUSH ‘UNDERWAY’: Appearing via video link at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday, President Donald Trump called the war in Ukraine “an absolute killing field” and said his efforts to end the conflict by brokering a ceasefire have already started.
“Our efforts to secure a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine are now, hopefully, underway. It’s so important to get that done,” Trump said, calling the war’s toll unlike anything since World War II. “Millions of soldiers are being killed…They’re laying dead all over the flat fields…It’s time to end it.”
Since taking office, Trump has jettisoned his campaign rhetoric, in which he boasted about his ability to force Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a deal within 24 hours. Trump told reporters this week that he’s not even sure Putin wants to make a deal.
“I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended,” Trump said during a brief question and answer session following his virtual remarks. “And that’s not from the standpoint of the economy or anything else. It’s from the standpoint of millions of lives are being wasted. Beautiful, young people are being shot in the battlefield…I’ve seen pictures of what’s taken place. It’s a carnage.”
OPINION: SEEKING UKRAINE PEACE, TRUMP ENERGETICALLY THROWS RUSSIA OFF BALANCE
ZELENSKY, TRUMP AGREE, OIL IS THE KEY: While Trump suggested this week he may hit Russia with more sanctions or tariffs if Putin doesn’t come to the table and negotiate in good faith, in his Davos remarks he also suggested another way to leverage his bargain position — oil prices, given that energy exports are Russia’s primary source of revenue.
“I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil. You got to bring it down, which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election. That didn’t show a lot of love by them not doing it. I was a little surprised by that,” Trump said. “If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately. Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue. You got to bring down the oil price, you’re going to end that war. They should have done it long ago.”
In his nightly video address, Zelensky called on Europe to “work more closely with America and other global partners on energy resources, not with Russia.”
“The key is to keep up the momentum and put pressure on Russia — the sole entity that wants this war and that is guilty of this war,” Zelensky said. “It is Russia that is trying to prolong the aggression and occupation. Of course, energy resources, and oil in particular, are one of the most important keys to peace, to real security.”
TRUMP SAYS HE WILL PRESS OPEC AND SAUDI ARABIA TO SLASH OIL PRICES
RUTTE: ‘WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE TRAJECTORY OF THE WAR’: During a breakfast session on the sidelines of the forum moderated by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte urged allies to step up their support for Ukraine as the war enters its fourth year.
“We have to change the trajectory of the war,” Rutte said, noting Ukraine’s front line with Russia “is moving in the wrong direction.”
Now is not the time to give up on Ukraine, Rutte argued, giving three primary reasons. “We cannot allow in the 21st century that one country invades another country and tries to colonize it. We are beyond those days, past those days.”
“Secondly, because we know it is, yes, Ukraine, but it is also about how China and North Korea and Iran and Russia are all working together. And this is, this is basically testimony to the fact that this is not only a European conflict, it is a geopolitical issue, a geopolitical conflict which is being fought out,” Ruute said.
“If we get a bad deal, it would only mean that we will see the President of Russia high-fiving with the leaders of North Korea, Iran, and China, and we cannot accept that. That will be geopolitically a big, a big mistake.”
Richard Grenell, Trump’s nominee as envoy for special missions, chimed in by video from Los Angeles, saying that Trump faced “a terrible mess” and “not a lot of great choices.”
ZELENSKY BANKING ON DRONE STRATEGY TO HOLD OFF RUSSIA
Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie (@chriswtremo). Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre.
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HAPPENING TODAY: HEGSETH HEADING FOR SENATE CONFIRMATION: Despite unified opposition by Democrats and the defection of two moderate Republican senators, President Trump’s unconventional nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, appears headed for a close but decisive vote in favor of his confirmation as early as this evening.
Despite renewed allegations of excessive drinking and abusive actions toward women, including his ex-wife (made by his former sister-in-law but denied by Hegseth’s ex-wife), and revelations he paid one accuser $50,000 in hush money, Hegseth appears to have 51 solid votes from Republicans, enough to make him the next secretary of defense. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are the only Republicans voting no on Hegseth.
“I commend Pete Hegseth’s service to our nation, including leading troops in combat and advocating for our veterans. However, these accomplishments do not alleviate my significant concerns regarding his nomination,” Murkowski said in a statement. “While the allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking do nothing to quiet my concerns, the past behaviors Mr. Hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces.”
“While I appreciate his courageous military service and his ongoing commitment to our servicemembers and their families, I am concerned that he does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job,” Collins said in her statement. “I am also concerned about multiple statements, including some in the months just before he was nominated, that Mr. Hegseth has made about women serving in the military. He and I had a candid conversation in December about his past statements and apparently evolving views. I am not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed.”
The concerns expressed by Murkowski and Collins were quickly brushed aside by their fellow Republicans as unfounded, unverified, or unimportant. “Look at the big picture. He got 51 votes,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said on Fox News. “We will have a new secretary of defense once he gets sworn in at the White House.”
“We’re going to do away with social justice DEI. We’re going to have great recruiting. We’re going to put discipline back in the military. That is exactly opposite what the Democrats want,” Tuberville said. “So thank God, Pete will get confirmed sometime this weekend, and we’re off to the races.”
MURKOWSKI AND COLLINS COME OUT AGAINST HEGSETH: ‘I BELIEVE CHARACTER IS THE DEFINING TRAIT’
TRUMP CALLS FOR NATO DEFENSE SPENDING LEVEL U.S. CAN’T MEET: Trump is back, harping on one of his favorite gripes, how much NATO members spend on defense, and how many are meeting the old 2% of GDP goal that almost everyone now agrees is too low.
“I’m also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago,” Trump said in his Davos remarks. “It was only at 2%, and most nations didn’t pay until I came along.”
“The problem is that — and Trump has consistently made this point — in Europe, we are underspending in terms of defense,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said at Davos, but while agreeing member nations need to spend more, he did not endorse a 5% of GDP goal.
“The problem, of course, is that we are not yet all at 2%. That’s problem No. 1,” Rutte said. “Problem No. 2 is that 2% is not nearly enough…It is not nearly enough. We are safe now, but NATO collectively is not able to defend itself in four or five years if we stick to the 2%.”
No NATO country currently spends 5% of GDP on defense, according to NATO figures. The closest is Poland at 4.12%. Poland, not coincidentally, is also the closest NATO ally to Ukraine and has the most to fear from Putin’s irredentist ambitions.
The United States, with the world’s largest defense budget of over $880 billion, still spends only 3.38% of GDP on defense, and that percentage has been declining, not increasing in recent years. Without a huge Pentagon budget increase for the next fiscal year, the U.S. would come nowhere near Trump’s goal for “all NATO nations.”
But as Rutte astutely observed, “the problem is not the U.S., the problem is Europe.”
EUROPEAN RIGHT WING BRINGING MAGA ABROAD: ‘EUROPE CANNOT MISS THIS TRAIN’
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Kremlin demands ‘mutually respectful dialogue’ as Trump threatens making peace ‘the hard way’
Washington Examiner: Seeking Ukraine peace, Trump energetically throws Russia off balance
Washington Examiner: Zelensky banking on drone strategy to hold off Russia
Washington Examiner: European right wing bringing MAGA abroad: ‘Europe cannot miss this train’
Washington Examiner: Israel seeks delay in withdrawal from southern Lebanon
Washington Examiner: Trump to exercise caution with an Iran nuclear deal: ‘Verify times 10’
Washington Examiner: House Republicans seek to close ‘loophole’ in 14th Amendment with Birthright Citizenship Act
Washington Examiner: Senate confirms Trump CIA director
Washington Examiner: ICE officers blitz US, arresting 460 immigrants under Trump’s mass deportation operation: Report
Washington Examiner: Air Force to carry out deportation flights for thousands of migrants
Washington Examiner: Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia on full display at Davos after Crown Prince gets first call
Washington Examiner: Trump says he will press OPEC and Saudi Arabia to slash oil prices
Washington Examiner: Coast Guard sending additional forces to newly named Gulf of America
Washington Examiner: Trump declassifies government files on JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations
Washington Examiner: List: The executive orders, actions, and proclamations Trump has made as president
Washington Examiner: Trump removes security protection for Mike Pompeo: Report
Washington Examiner: Hegseth clears first Senate hurdle despite Democrats’ efforts to tank Pentagon nominee
Washington Examiner: Murkowski and Collins come out against Hegseth: ‘I believe character is the defining trait’
New York Times: Ukraine Is Losing Fewer Soldiers Than Russia—but It’s Still Losing the War
Soldier of Fortune: Ukraine Launches Widespread Raids Against Arms Smugglers
Washington Post: Ukraine intel chief says North Korean weapons are flooding into Russia
Wall Street Journal: China Is Helping Supply Chemicals for Iran’s Ballistic-Missile Program
AP: Asylum-seekers pushed to new extremes in Mexico after Trump’s border crackdown begins
Breaking Defense: Fearing US ‘Hostility,’ Russia Could ‘Escalate Early’ in a Space Conflict: RAND
AP: US Air Force Looks to Upgrade Cyprus Airbase as Humanitarian Staging Post for the Middle East
Washington Post: Trump moves to close Pentagon office focused on curbing civilian deaths
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force Shuts Down DEI Programs, Following President’s Orders
Defense One: Pentagon, Agencies Must End Telework, Remote Work in 30 Days, OPM Says
Breaking Defense: OpenAI’s $500B ‘Stargate Project’ Could Aid Pentagon’s Own AI Efforts, Official Says
Air & Space Forces Magazine: New Report: Fixes to Pilot ‘Crisis’ Tied to Fleet Size, Flying Hours, Reserves
Air & Space Forces Magazine: ‘Even Better’: How Guardians Stopped Iran’s Second Missile Barrage
Task & Purpose: Cancer Rates in Military Pilots and Other Aviators Could Get a Closer Look
Stars and Stripes: A-10 Warthogs Back in US After Lengthy Sicily Stay Delayed Return
Defense News: Why the US Navy Wants to Build a Fully Autonomous Satellite
THE CALENDAR:
FRIDAY | JANUARY 24
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave, NW — Center for Strategic and International Studies debate: “Artificial Intelligence Integration in Nuclear Command, Control and Communications,” with Paul Scharre, executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security; and Chris Andrews, fellow at National Defense University https://www.csis.org/events/poni-live-debate-ai-integration-nc3
9 a.m. 418 Russell — Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee markup to vote on the nomination of Douglas Collins to be veterans affairs secretary http://veterans.senate.gov
2: 30 p.m. — National Press Club “NPC Headliners” virtual book discussion: A Different Russia: Khrushchev and Kennedy on a Collision Course,” with Marvin Kalb, former correspondent for CBS News https://www.press.org/events/npc-headliners-marvin-kalb
WEDNESDAY | JANUARY 29
7:15 a.m. 2425 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Virginia — Association of the U.S. Army “Coffee Series” discussion with Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George https://www.ausa.org/events/coffee-series/gen-george
THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 13
TBA Brussels, Belgium — NATO Defence Ministers meet for two days at NATO Headquarters in Brussels
