MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. NATO’s Ankara summit pledges 140 billion euros in aid for Ukraine; the US no longer sees reason to maintain peace with Iran; and Europe, Ukraine look to cooperate on long-range missile development. These stories topped Thursday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

 

Media: NATO summit pledges 140 billion euros in aid for Ukraine

The NATO summit in Ankara adopted a declaration that commits members to providing at least 70 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine in 2026 and 2027, Vedomosti writes.

NATO countries did not introduce any new ideas, as tools for further assistance to Ukraine are expected to be largely integrated into existing mechanisms, Yegor Sergeyev, a senior researcher at the Institute for International Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said. As before, the allies are counting on the continuation of the conflict.

The money the EU and NATO are discussing means supplies of equipment and ammunition rather than direct funding, Igor Shtrobak, a senior staff member at the Department for Military and Political Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute for US and Canadian Studies, emphasized. "However, the economic policy the European Union has pursued over the past years runs counter to the very essence of the classic idea of militarization. The policy includes social and economic support measures, long-term planning, and an energy security system. The current system looks like a short-term mobilization effort," Shtrobak pointed out.

US President Donald Trump held a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Trump said the US would provide Ukraine with a production license for Patriot missiles. Moreover, both the US leader and Secretary of State Marco Rubio agreed that the escalation of violence resulting from Ukrainian strikes inside Russia could aid the settlement process. Meanwhile, Trump also expressed optimism about the possibility of a deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Washington is once again trying to take an active part in the Ukraine issue, Valdai International Discussion Club expert Andrey Kortunov told Izvestia. The US president continues to position himself as a mediator and peacemaker and, in fact, is not ready to unequivocally side with Kiev, the expert believes. The matter is that Trump arrived at the Ankara summit in a weak position, with the Iran talks stalled and disagreements with the Europeans still unresolved. This is why Trump chose to act not as a troublemaker but as a loyal leader of the alliance, the analyst explained. As for Patriot missiles, Ukraine will not be able to establish full production cycles, so it could most likely manufacture individual components, the expert said.

 

Media: US no longer sees reason to maintain peace with Iran

US President Donald Trump has said that the ceasefire in the Middle East is over and that talks with Iran are pointless. The statements followed an escalation of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attempted to attack at least three commercial vessels, while the US Central Command carried out strikes on targets in Iran, Kommersant reports.

Yury Lyamin, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategies and Technologies, pointed out that the US-Iran memorandum had initially left considerable room for interpretation. In particular, Tehran believes that, under paragraph five of the memorandum, it is the only party with the right to organize the passage of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz. "When the US started leading commercial vessels along a route passing near Oman's coast of the strait, which had not been agreed with Iran, Tehran saw it as a violation of the memorandum by Washington," the expert explained.

A new round of tensions in the Persian Gulf came as a cold shower for the oil market. Brent crude prices rose by almost 10% in less than 24 hours and are expected to continue climbing following Trump’s recent statements, Rossiyskaya Gazeta notes.

Vladimir Levchenko, an expert at the Stolypin Institute for the Economy of Growth, believes that expectations of the war ending soon were, to a certain extent, overly optimistic. In the expert’s view, oil prices are set to reach new highs, although it is difficult to predict in the current situation how quickly this will happen. Levchenko expects prices to once again reach this year’s peaks of up to $120 per barrel.

As for Russia’s oil exports, the current developments will increase demand for Russian commodities, Levchenko said. The greater the physical shortage of oil becomes - and physical oil and oil product shortages are what the world is about to face - the higher the demand for and prices of physical supplies will be, including Russian oil, the expert emphasized.

 

Izvestia: Europe, Ukraine look to cooperate on long-range missile development

European countries plan to develop high-precision long-range weapons. Britain will lead the new project, with investment expected to surpass $50 billion in ten years. The plan is to create missiles with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers. About 12 countries, including France and Germany, are expected to join the initiative. Some reports say Ukraine could also participate in the project, Izvestia reports.

Chances are high that the European program will be carried out, Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, said. "In Ukraine, options for a future war against Russia are in fact being tested, including the use of artificial intelligence mechanisms and long-range weapons, as well as their integration with various combat control systems. Western sponsors are highly interested in these capabilities, which is why Ukraine is expected to participate in the process in line with the strategic priorities of countries such as the UK, France, and Germany," the expert noted.

The program was prepared well before NATO’s summit in Ankara, military expert Anatoly Matviychuk pointed out. He agrees that the bloc’s member states intend to use the experiences of the Ukraine conflict to create weapons for their own armies. "In this regard, Ukraine will act not only as a recipient of arms but also as a source of combat experience," the analyst believes. Production is most likely to be launched at European defense industry facilities, the expert added.

For Russia, such initiatives pose an additional threat that could require further reinforcement of the country’s missile and air defenses. "Russia relies on cutting-edge air defense systems such as the S-500, as well as domestically produced weapons, including hypersonic ones. These capabilities are expected to serve as the ultimate response to Europe’s acquisition of new long-range arms," the expert concluded.

 

Media: Russia strengthens position in Africa’s Sahel region

Moscow is determined to expand cooperation with Sahel countries, namely Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The fight against terrorism remains the key issue on the agenda. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s historic visit to Niger came amid rising terrorist threats, Izvestia notes.

Today, Moscow is a key ally for the three nations in their fight against extremists, as members of Russia’s African Corps operate in the Confederation of Sahel States. After French troops were forced to leave the region, Russia intensified security cooperation with these countries to an unprecedented level, Alexander Shipilov, a researcher at the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed out.

Efforts to support these countries’ people and build long-term ties are crucial for Russia, while the African nations often show reciprocity on the international stage. At the UN General Assembly, members of the Confederation of Sahel States have long abandoned neutrality and now openly support Russia. However, the durability of the alliance depends directly on the ability of these countries’ authorities to stand firm in the face of the terrorist threat.

As for the Sahel nations, after military governments came to power in recent years, the countries of the region established stronger ties with each other and turned away from France, their former colonial ruler, political scientist Alexey Makarkin told Vedomosti. The geopolitical shift significantly increased Russia’s role as a power capable of ensuring stability and security, the expert stressed.

The West, represented by the United States, France, and other European countries, seeks to gain a foothold in the Sahel, a region rich in resources and an important logistics hub, said Yevgenia Tikhonova, an analyst with the "Africa in the Focus of Russian Interests" program at the Institute for International Studies of Moscow State Institute of International Relations. The Sahel states are committed to cooperation with Russia in order to counter the collective West. The top Russian diplomat’s visit to Niger is an important event demonstrating efforts to establish a new system of international relations, which is a positive and crucial factor in terms of Russia’s engagement with the region, the expert concluded.

 

Izvestia: EU to pay price for abandoning Russian energy next year

Gas reserves in European storage facilities have dropped to critically low levels, but Austria remains determined to end Russian supplies, Moscow’s Ambassador to Vienna Andrey Grozov told Izvestia. According to the envoy, Austria’s authorities are strictly following the EU’s policy, which seeks to force European countries to abandon Russian energy imports by 2027. However, experts believe that the move will lead to a crisis in energy-intensive industries and that Central Europe will be hit the hardest.

The European Union is steadily working to eliminate the remaining channels for Russian fuel supplies. On June 17, a ban took effect that prohibits Russian pipeline gas exports under short-term agreements signed over a year ago. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases will be banned starting on January 1, 2027, while the plan is to completely stop gas flows through pipelines by September 30, 2027.

Meanwhile, the bans will come at a difficult time for the EU. According to the latest data, levels of gas in underground storage facilities are at their lowest point in 15 years.

While the EU strives to implement its restrictions as planned, the bloc boosted Russian LNG imports by 10% in June compared with last year. However, in its official statements, the European Commission keeps dismissing the possibility of returning to Russian gas purchases.

Stanislav Mitrokhovich, leading expert at the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University under the Russian Government, believes that the EU is technically capable of halting Russian gas supplies. Central European countries, namely Hungary and Slovakia, will suffer the most from the move, as they are located far from seaports. In addition, European countries will have to give up their energy-intensive industries. Notably, Germany’s once prosperous chemical industry is already experiencing a crisis.

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