Europe makes a final appeal to the outgoing government Biden to increase US support for Ukraine in order to strengthen Kiev’s position as much as possible before the end of the presidential term in January.

Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20, has said he will seek a quick deal between Kiev and Moscow, raising concerns in Europe that such a deal would be unfavorable to Ukraine and would possibly consolidate the profits made by Russia from its invasion in 2022, according to the Bloomberg agency.

European leaders and officials have asked the US to provide Ukraine with more weapons and artillery, impose additional sanctions on key Russian revenue sources and target Moscow’s ability to acquire prohibited weapons technologiesaccording to unnamed Bloomberg sources with knowledge of the situation.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made a hurried trip to Brussels on Wednesday to reassure NATO and European Union allies that the US would step up efforts to send resources to Ukraine ahead of the inauguration of Trump, who has been heavily criticized the scale of American efforts to defend Kiev.

The resources he mentioned – money, ammunition, weapons – mainly come from the $61 billion package approved by the US Congress earlier this year. He further added that “every dollar we have at our disposal” will be made available promptly.

Although time is running out for Biden to act, the US is already working to enact new sanctions against Russia’s oil fleet and North Korea – which has sent troops to help Moscow – by the end of November, the sources said. .

Europe has stepped up efforts to protect its interests, particularly with regard to Ukraine’s war efforts, before Trump became president. The Republican president-elect has an adversarial stance toward Europe and in September declined to answer a question about whether he wanted Ukraine to succeed in its bid to oust Russian invaders.

“The coming weeks will be critical to put Ukraine in a strong position”Mark Leonard, co-founder and director of the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations, told Bloomberg. He also said that the deal that Trump will negotiate “may try to freeze conflict along lines where Russia now owns 20% of Ukrainian territory”.

The US has pledged to ensure that all available Ukraine money is used before Trump takes office. However, the delivery of some weapons could take many months and extend beyond Biden’s term.

“We will do as much as we can to support Ukraine before the new team takes over,” US Army procurement chief Douglas Bush said in an interview. “But from then on it will be their decision.”

Several EU leaders are also pushing the US to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike military targets inside Russiaa move that Kiev and its allies believe would greatly improve the country’s ability to defend itself against Moscow’s attacks on critical infrastructure.

Biden has so far resisted the request, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has openly opposed it. People familiar with the US position said the view is that doing so would have a limited impact on the war and is not worth the risk of escalation.

The Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned the US and its NATO allies not to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia using weapons they have supplied. Ukraine also wants to use British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and French SCALPs to strike Russia.

For its part, the EU is bracing for a divisive Trump presidency, amid concerns that the bloc will need to boost aid to Kiev due to waning US support. The EU is looking to speed up talks with the UK on a new defense and security pact, Bloomberg reported earlier.

Although the EU is the largest aid provider to Ukraine, Kiev relies on the US for critical military equipment such as F-16s and long-range ATACM missiles. The EU has allocated 118 billion euros since the start of the conflict, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.