European countries vow billions in military support for Ukraine as US envoy meets Putin

BRUSSELS (AP) — European countries vowed Friday to sends billions of dollars in further funding to help Ukraine keep fighting Russia’s invasion, as a U.S. envoy pursued peace efforts in a trip to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing questions about the Kremlin’s willingness to stop the more than three-year war.

Russian forces hold the advantage in Ukraine, with the war now in its fourth year. Ukraine has endorsed a U.S. ceasefire proposal, but Russia has effectively blocked it by imposing far-reaching conditions. European governments have accused Putin of dragging his feet.

“Russia has to get moving” on the road to ending the war, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on social media. He said the war is “terrible and senseless.”

In Russia, the Kremlin said Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in St. Petersburg. Witkoff, who has been pressing the Kremlin to accept a truce, initially met with Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, footage released by Russian media showed.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Witkoff during his visit to Russia was discussing efforts to end the war with Putin and other officials. “This is another step in the negotiating process towards a ceasefire and an ultimate peace deal,” she said.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Witkoff's meeting with Putin lasted 4 1/2 hours, and cited the Kremlin as saying that the two discussed “aspects" of ending the war, without providing any details.

After chairing a meeting of Ukraine's Western backers in Brussels, British Defense Secretary John Healey said that new pledges of military aid totaled over 21 billion euros ($24 billion), “a record boost in military funding for Ukraine, and we are also surging that support to the frontline fight.”

Healey gave no breakdown of that figure, and Ukraine has in the past complained that some countries repeat old offers at such pledging conferences or fail to deliver real arms and ammunition worth the money they promise.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said last week that Ukraine’s backers have provided around $21 billion so far in the first three months of this year. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Friday that more than $26 billion have been committed.

Ahead of the “contact group” meeting at NATO headquarters, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said a key issue was strengthening his country’s air defenses.

Standing alongside Healey at the end of it, Umerov described the meeting as “productive, effective and efficient,” and said that it produced “one of the largest” packages of assistance Ukraine has received. “We’re thankful to each nation that has provided this support,” he said.

Britain said that in a joint effort with Norway just over $580 million would be spent to provide hundreds of thousands of military drones, radar systems and anti-tank mines, as well as repair and maintenance contracts to keep Ukrainian armored vehicles on the battlefield.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his appeals for more Patriot systems since 20 people were killed a week ago, including nine children, when a Russian missile tore through apartment buildings and blasted a playground in his home town.

Zelenskyy joined Friday's meeting by video link.

The Russian delay in accepting Washington's proposal has frustrated Trump and fueled doubts about whether Putin really wants to stop the fighting while his bigger army has momentum on the battlefield.

“Russia continues to use bilateral talks with the United States to delay negotiations about the war in Ukraine, suggesting that the Kremlin remains uninterested in serious peace negotiations to end the war,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment late Thursday.

Washington remains committed to securing a peace deal, even though four weeks have passed since it made its ceasefire proposals, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

“It is a dynamic that will not be solved militarily. It is a meat grinder,” Bruce said Thursday about the war, adding that “nothing else can be discussed … until the shooting and the killing stops.”

Ukrainian officials and military analysts believe Russia is preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in coming weeks to ramp up pressure and strengthen the Kremlin’s hand in the negotiations.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that his country would provide Ukraine with four IRIS-T short- to medium-range systems with missiles, as well as 30 missiles for use on Patriot batteries. The Netherlands plans to supply a Hawkeye air defense system, an airborne early warning aircraft.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said that his country is monitoring the world armaments market and sees opportunities for Ukraine’s backers to buy more weapons and ammunition.

Pevkur said he believes Putin might try to reach some kind of settlement with Ukraine by May 9 — the day that Russia marks victory during World War II — making it even more vital to strengthen Kyiv’s position now.

“This is why we need to speed up the deliveries as quickly as we can,” he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was absent from the forum that the United States created and led for several years, although he spoke via video.

At the last contact group meeting in February, Hegseth warned Ukraine’s European backers that the U.S. now has priorities elsewhere — in Asia and on America’s own borders — and that they would have to take care of their own security, and that of Ukraine, in future.

Associated Press writers Lolita Baldor, Michelle L. Price and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff shake hands prior to their talks in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, April 11, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff greet each other prior to their talks in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, April 11, 2025. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, right, talks with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, left, talks as he sits next to German Inspector General of the Armed Forces Carsten Breuer during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, talks with Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, talks with Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, talks with Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov during a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, talks with Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, left, Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, second from left, and Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, right, arrive for a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson arrives for a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Belgium's Defense Minister Theo Francken, right, talks with Estonia's Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur during a coalition of the willing defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Flags of the Alliance members flap in the wind prior to a coalition of the willing defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, right, talks with Romania's Defense Minister Angel Tilvar as they arrive for a coalition of the willing defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Britain's Defense Secretary John Healey, center, talks with Romania's Defense Minister Angel Tilvar as they arrive for a coalition of the willing defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov arrives for a coalition of the willing defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Six people who all knew each other were inside a vehicle when one, a man with an alleged gang connection, shot each of them in the head before fleeing, according to newly unsealed criminal charges in this week's mass shooting in Minneapolis.

Three victims died at the scene early Tuesday. Another succumbed to his wounds Thursday. One remains hospitalized after being shot in the face but was able to identify the shooter to police, according to the criminal complaint.

And investigators believe a fifth person was killed hours later in retaliation. A suspect in the first shooting was arrested Thursday and has been charged with murder.

Police say the victims were all Native Americans and the shooting was gang-related. The rash of violence has shaken one of the country’s largest urban Indigenous communities.

The first shooting happened on Tuesday just before midnight in a vehicle parked in the diverse residential and commercial neighborhood of Phillips in south Minneapolis. The county medical examiner's office on Friday said the three who died at the scene were Evan Ramon Denny, 27 of St. Paul; Joseph Douglas Goodwin, 17, of Minneapolis; and Merelle Joan White, 20, of Red Lake. Two had been shot multiple times.

A 20-year-old woman was shot in the face and hospitalized in critical condition, the complaint said. She said the shooter was sitting in the back seat when he opened fire on her and everyone else in the vehicle before fleeing on foot.

A 28-year-old man was hospitalized in grave condition but died shortly after the suspect was arrested on Thursday, police said. That victim's name was still being withheld Friday.

About 13 hours later and a few blocks away, a man was killed near an apartment building that happens to house the Minneapolis office of the Red Lake Nation, one of the state's largest tribes. The medical examiner identified him Friday as Tiago Antonio Gilbert, 34, of Minneapolis. He died of multiple gunshot wounds.

The Minneapolis police chief said Thursday it was “entirely probable” this second shooting was revenge for the first. But a police spokesman, Sgt. Garrett Parten, said investigators were still working to determine if there was a link.

Police have released few other details about that homicide.

A makeshift memorial had sprung up by Friday at the site of the first shooting. Red, silver and black balloons were tied to a tree where a plush eagle toy was also attached. At the base were candles, fresh flowers and a bottle of tequila.

The state’s 11 sovereign tribal nations issued a joint statement Thursday, mourning the deaths and urging anyone with information to contact city law enforcement or their own tribal police.

“As native peoples, we have always known grief,” the statement said. “But we have also always experienced the strength that comes afterward. We are here because our ancestors cared for one another. That is how you are even here — because someone before you chose love, protection, and community over despair.”

The complaint against James Duane Ortley, 34, of Minneapolis, alleges that he and members of his family are associated with a gang known as the Native Mob, which operates in the city’s south and other parts of Minnesota.

The gang was the subject of a multiyear federal investigation over a decade ago that resulted in the convictions of 28 people. Its alleged leader at the time was sentenced in 2014 to 43 years in prison.

The U.S. Marshals Service said its local fugitive task force and an FBI SWAT team arrested Ortley on Thursday afternoon. He was charged a day earlier with second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Ortley has a felony assault conviction on his record from 2021, which the complaint said prohibits him from possessing guns or ammunition. Court records show he completed his probation in 2023. When police interviewed him in 2023 in a separate homicide investigation, the complaint said, he acknowledged that his street name was “Baby James.”

Ortley remained jailed Friday, and court records didn’t list an attorney who could comment on his behalf. His first court appearance is scheduled for Monday. The chief public defender for Hennepin County, Michael Berger, said his office probably won’t learn if it’s representing Ortley until Monday. Messages were left with several potential relatives of Ortley's.

The victim who survived told police the shooter went by the street names “Baby J,” “Little J” and “Little James,” and was a friend of one of the victims, according to the complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.

Relatives of one victim told police that the victims were all together at a family friend's residence in Minneapolis but left around 9:30 p.m. with plans to pick up “Baby J,” who was known to be a “close family friend” of the victims. The family member identified “Baby J” as the defendant.

Other law enforcement sources told investigators that Ortley was “an associate” of more than one victim, the complaint said.

A surveillance video was consistent with the survivor's account, the complaint said. It shows one person matching Ortley's description exiting the vehicle and fleeing before police arrived.

The complaint gave no details on what might have prompted the shootings.

“This is a bittersweet day,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a statement Friday. “While this arrest represents meaningful progress toward justice, that progress is overshadowed by the heartbreaking loss of another life. Our thoughts remain with the victims’ families, their loved ones, and a community that continues to grieve.”

This story had been updated to correct in the headline that he has been charged in four homicides, instead of charged with four homicides.

Associated Press reporters Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed.

Items are placed as a memorial at the site of a late Tuesday fatal shooting, on Friday, May 2, 2025 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

Items are placed as a memorial at the site of a late Tuesday fatal shooting, on Friday, May 2, 2025 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

A police officer works on the scene as a bystander is shook up by the homicide in front of 2107 Cedar Ave S in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)

Police work on the scene as a bystander is shook up by the homicide in front of 2107 Cedar Ave S in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)