Exclusive | Waltz says Ukraines defense must be European-led, calls out woefully inadequate allies over preparedness

WASHINGTON — National security adviser Mike Waltz told The Post Tuesday the US can’t afford to “subsidize” its NATO allies anymore — and added that the defense of Ukraine “must be European-led.” In a wide-ranging interview to mark President Trump’s first 100 days in office, Waltz affirmed that the administration would back Europe militarily and diplomatically — but would be “demanding at every level.”“Case in point, look at the issue with the Houthis [in Yemen],” he said.“The vast majority of that shipping [through the Red Sea] goes to Europe, and when you have a situation where they haven’t invested in their navies to be able to handle — or at least assist us in a much greater way — then at some point this is going to affect their way of life, their trade, their commerce, their ability to keep their economies going.”“We’ve made it clear that assistance to Ukraine going forward in the future must be European-led,” the national security adviser added.

“And that is just a fundamental outcome of these negotiations.”On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov set diplomatic efforts back by demanding a fully “demilitarized” Ukraine and refused to offer any territory occupied by Vladimir Putin’s war machine back to Kyiv.Special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow April 25 for talks which Trump said at the time were “going smoothly” — after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected a new proposed peace agreement that demanded the recognition of the Crimean peninsula as Russian territory.Waltz has echoed President Trump’s calls that NATO members hike their defense budgets to at least 5% of GDP, pointing out that few were willing to meet a “bare minimum” of 2% in the Republican’s first administration.“We have to take a step back and remember that it was 11 years ago that NATO — as a group, all of its members — committed to 2%.That was a bare minimum in 2014,” he said“What al...