Donald Trump is considering pulling 35,000 troops out of Germany just hours after the US suspended sharing satellite images with Ukraine in a bid to pressure the country into signing a peace deal.
The latest move comes as Russia launched a deadly overnight barrage in the Donetsk region, which killed at least 11 and crippled energy facilities vital for delivering heat and light to its citizens, as well as powering weapons factories.
Trump, who is weighing up whether to redeploy his troops to eastern Europe, is said to have become increasingly frustrated with the continent’s stance on the conflict.
European Union leaders, mindful they may need to shoulder more of the burden for arming Ukraine and strengthen their own defenses, agreed on a plan on Thursday to significantly build up their military spending.
Some 160,000 personnel are stationed outside of the US, with the majority positioned in Germany.
A source close to the White House told The Telegraph: ‘Trump is angry that they [Europe] appear to be pushing for war.’
One potential relocation for the troops is Hungary, which on Thursday voted against further supporting Ukraine in the conflict – despite other member states backing the proposal.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also previously opposed EU sanctions against Moscow.
Donald Trump is considering pulling 35,000 troops out of Germany as Russia launched a deadly overnight barrage in the Donetsk region
Friday night’s Russian attack killed at least 11 and crippled energy facilities vital for delivering heat and light to its citizens, as well as powering weapons factories
Trump, who is weighing up whether to redeploy his troops to eastern Europe, is said to have become increasingly frustrated with the continent’s stance on the conflict
Trump is also said to have felt discontent against Nato countries not currently meeting the two per cent defence spending goal, arguing that the United States has had to bear the brunt of the shortfall.
Speaking about the issue on Thursday, Mr Trump told a press conference: ‘When I came to Nato, when I first had my first meeting, I noticed that people weren’t paying their bills at all, and I said I should wait till my second meeting.
‘And I did. And I brought that up, and I said, ‘if you don’t pay your bills, we’re not going to participate. We’re not going to protect you.’
In January, it was reported that Trump intends to reduce US personnel in Europe by 20 per cent and is set to ask for a ‘financial contribution’ from member states to maintain the remaining troops.
The President’s focus on troops deployed to Europe comes as the US government announced on Friday that it had halted Ukrainian access to unclassified satellite images used to help in the fight against Russia.
The US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said the decision reflected ‘the Administration’s directive on support to Ukraine,’ without elaborating.
Satellite imagery provider Maxar Technologies confirmed the US government decision to ‘temporarily suspend’ Ukrainian access.
Air-defense systems supplied by the West are crucial for Ukraine, but further US help is uncertain under Trump, who held a tempestuous – and televised – White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week in which he questioned Ukraine’s determination to end the war.
More than 30 people were wounded, including five children, in the Russian attack
A building is seen entirely ablaze following Russian drone strikes in Odessa on Friday night
A Ukranian fireman attempts to cool the temperature of a burnt-out building in Bohodukhiv, in the Kharkiv region
Damaged residential buildings at the site of a Russian strike in Dobropillia, Donetsk region
Zelenskyy has since said the blowup with the Trump administration was ‘regrettable.’
The latest moves come as at least 11 people were killed overnight in the Donetsk region as Vladimir Putin ignored Trump’s warning to stop ‘pounding’ Ukraine.
More than 30 people were wounded, including five children.
Footage showed the hellish carnage in Dobropillia as the strikes destroyed eight five-story buildings, an administrative building and 30 cars.
Another nine people were killed across Donetsk region, in Pokrovsk, Konstantinopol, Yablunivka, Konstantinovka, Myrnograd and Ivanopillya, as well as Dobropillia.
A total of 42 were wounded in the region, said the administration of Ukrainian controlled territory.
Fires raged in Dobropillia’s buildings hampering rescue efforts for people trapped in the rubble.
Ukrainian reports saying the dead were civilians.
Some 160,000 personnel are stationed outside of the US, with the majority positioned in Germany. Pictured: US troops in Hohenfels, Germany
Trump held a tempestuous – and televised – White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week in which he questioned Ukraine’s determination to end the war
Preliminary reports say the Russians used an Iskander-M missile, Tornado-S MRLS, and Shahed 136 killer drones.
Governor of the region Vadym Filashkin urged remaining residents of the mining town – some 12 miles from the frontline – to flee to safer regions.
Dobropillia is geographically close to the rare metals deposits that Trump is seeking to rights to exploit from Zelensky, as Russia seeks territorial gains in the Donbas.
A separate Russian drone strike on Kharkiv region killed three, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the regional military administration.
A meat processing plant was hit in Bogodukhiv.
‘The death toll has risen to three. All are civilian men,’ he said.
Putin also staged an attack on civilian and industrial facilities in Odesa, triggering fires.
A video showed the horrific moment a Russian drone hit a car in Odessa, a strike which the driver miraculously survived.
A residential building is ablaze in the aftermath of an attack in Dobropillia in the Donetsk area, on Friday evening
The Russian attack came just days after the US government announced it would no longer share satellite images with Ukraine
The onslaught came as Trump’s blocking of Ukraine receiving intelligence data triggers fears of missile strikes from Russia without warning.
Trump has also effectively grounded Ukraine’s Western-supplied long range missiles by refusing to supply key mapping data needed for targeting.
So far, Putin has shown no sign of desiring quick peace, which Trump claims the Kremlin dictator wants and needs.
On Friday, Trump complained Russia was ‘absolutely pounding’ Ukraine, and he threatened new sanctions if it did not stop.
Yet he gave succour to Putin saying it was easier to deal with Russia and Ukraine, adding that he understood the Kremlin dictator’s heavy bombardment.
‘I actually think he’s doing what anybody else would do,’ he said. ‘Probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now.’
The US president also said of Putin: ‘I think he’s going to be more generous than he has to be.’
Friday’s bombardment comes as 10,000 Ukrainian troops risk being encircled in a cauldron in the Kursk region of Russia.
People comfort a crying woman near a damaged residential building following a strike in Dobropillia, Donetsk region
A man carries surviving items from a damaged residential building as Ukraine suffered a heavy Russian attack on Friday night
‘The situation is very bad,’ said Pasi Paroinen, a military analyst at Finnish military company Black Bird Group.
‘There is very little time left before Ukrainian troops are either surrounded or forced to retreat.’
Ukraine still controls around 150 square miles of a larger area of Kursk region that it occupied in August last year.
Zelensky is clinging to the territory aiming to use it as a bargaining chip during peace talks but the strategy is now on a knife edge, with his 10,000 trips in potential peril from advances by Russian troops backed by North Korean fighters.
Ukrainian war analyst Denis Kazansky condemned the Dobropillia massacre in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine.
This was ‘senseless mass murder of those very residents of Donbas whom Russia supposedly liberates and protects.
‘Only not a single Russian propagandist will shed tears over these murdered residents of Donbass.’
In Ukrainian overnight drone strikes, they hit and partially destroyed the Kirishinefteorgsintez oil refinery in Kirishi, in Leningrad region near St Petersburg.
European Union leaders, mindful they may need to shoulder more of the burden for arming Ukraine and strengthen their own defenses, agreed on a plan on Thursday to significantly build up their military spending. Pictured: Zelensky wth Special Antonio Costa, President of the European Council and Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
The drone offensive caused disruption at the city’s Pulkovo airport.
A Russian defence ministry dry rations plant in Bryansk region was also hit by Ukrainian jet drones causing a dozen explosions.
Separately, cockpit pictures today emerged of Ukraine’s first use of a French Mirage 2000-5 fighter jet to shoot down a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile during savage Russian attacks on Friday.
Zelensky overnight hit out at Russia over Putin’s Friday blitzkrieg against Ukraine’s gas storage facilities.
‘This Russian strike on our energy system and civilian facilities occurred so routinely for Russia, so vile and cynical, as always, as if there are no efforts at all from Ukraine and the world to end this war,’ he said.
‘Ukraine is ready for peace as soon as possible: we have proposed concrete steps.
‘And every day, new Russian strikes and reality itself prove that it is Russia that must be forced into peace – into stopping the war, into real diplomacy, into ensuring security and into a reliable and lasting peace.’
Zelensky – who is due in Saudi Arabia on Monday where Ukraine will start talks of a peace deal with the Americans – hit out at the latest Russian aggression.
‘Such strikes show that Russia’s goals are unchanged,’ he said.
‘It is very important to continue to do everything to protect life, strengthen our air defence, and tighten sanctions against Russia.
‘Everything that helps Putin finance the war must break down.’
