The US president has suggested an agreement between Moscow and Kiev could be near<\/p>\n
European military stocks have dropped after US President Donald Trump indicated that the Ukraine peace process is approaching a conclusion following his meeting with Vladimir Zelensky.
\nTrump hosted Zelensky in Miami on Sunday for the latest round of discussions on a possible peace proposal, with the meeting preceded by his phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day. At a joint press conference that followed, Trump said a peace deal was \u201c95% ready\u201d and that the sides were \u201cvery close\u201d to a settlement, with \u201cone or two very thorny issues\u201d remaining.
\nThe news visibly impacted European military stocks. The STOXX Europe Total Market Aerospace & Defense Index had dropped 1.8% by 12pm GMT on Monday. Shares in Rheinmetall, Germany\u2019s largest arms manufacturer and a key supplier of military equipment to Kiev, fell 2.5%.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Kremlin agrees with Trump that Ukraine peace talks in final phase<\/p>\n
Tank components maker Renk dropped 2.4%, and defense-electronics producer Hensoldt lost 2%. Shares in Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo tumbled more than 4%, stock in major UK defense firm BAE Systems fell by 1.2%, while French aerospace and defense firm Thales shed 1.3%.
\nEuropean arms makers have thrived throughout the conflict as Kiev\u2019s sponsors armed its military and boosted their own industries. Rheinmetall shares surged nearly 2,000% since fighting escalated four years ago. Revenues for the top 100 European defense firms rose about 13% in 2024, with Ukraine-related contracts driving some of the sharpest gains. However, stocks have slipped\u00a0since Trump\u2019s renewed peace push last month, with analysts forecasting further declines once the conflict ends.
\nFollowing the talks on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump is correct to say that peace talks are in their final phase, while noting that the US leader has yet to brief Putin on the latest meeting, which the two leaders agreed would happen via phone soon.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Trump cites \u2018thorniest issue,\u2019 offers takes on Ukraine, Russia and Putin: As it happened<\/p>\n
Russia has repeatedly criticized Ukraine\u2019s Western backers for supplying military and financial aid, arguing it prolongs the conflict and obstructs the peace process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president has suggested an agreement between Moscow and Kiev could be near European military stocks have dropped after US President Donald Trump indicated that the Ukraine peace process…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t