U.S. government tries to convince Egypt to supply Ukraine with arms, but to no avail – WSJ
Egypt currently buys most of its grain from russia
The Wall Street Journal reports, citing its sources, that the U.S. government is trying to convince Egypt to start supplying weapons to Ukraine, but Cairo is in no hurry to fulfill this request.
Earlier, the Egyptian authorities, under pressure from Washington, abandoned the idea of helping russia with weapons, the publication said.
According to WSJ sources, several U.S. officials, including U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who met with President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi in March, asked Egypt to supply arms to Kyiv.
In particular, the U.S. government offered the Egyptian authorities to supply Ukraine with artillery shells, anti-tank missiles, air defense systems, and firearms.
The supply of shells is especially important, as Ukraine uses a large amount of ammunition in its counteroffensive, and the U.S. government is doing everything possible to ensure that the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not run out of them, the WSJ writes.
"During meetings with U.S. officials, Egypt did not explicitly deny the requests, but Egyptian officials privately say Cairo has no plans to start deliveries," the authors say.
At the same time, one of the WSJ's interlocutors in the U.S. State Department said that Egypt remains a partner of the United States in its attempts to establish a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
"These issues are not easy, so we continue to have productive discussions with our Egyptian partners about the mutual benefits of ending this war started by russia," the official said.
WSJ journalists remind that Egypt has tried to remain neutral on the war in Ukraine and maintain friendly relations with russia. President al-Sisi is still friends with putin and recently participated in the russia-Africa summit held this summer in St. Petersburg. Egypt also buys most of its grain from russia.
After the Egyptian government refused to supply weapons to Ukraine, some members of the U.S. Congress proposed to freeze $230 million in U.S. aid to Cairo, the authors of the publication report.
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