Page 6 - Nato

Russia launches airstrike on Kyiv hours before talks on support for Ukraine

Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, only hours before the UK and Germany are to chair a meeting to discuss US President Donald Trump's plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons. The attack killed two people and wounded 15, including a 12-year-old, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The drone and missile assault on Kyiv overnight into Monday underscored the urgency of Ukraine's need for further Western military aid, especially in air defence, a week after Trump said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine within days. The virtual meeting will be led by British Defense Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. Healey said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen Alexus Grynkewich, will attend the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group. Moscow has intensified its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, and analysts say

Talks planned after Trump said Europe will pay for weapons to Ukraine

The UK and Germany are chairing a meeting Monday to discuss President Donald Trump's plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons, a week after the US president said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine within days. The virtual meeting will be lead by British Defence Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. Healey said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen Alexus Grynkewich, will attend the meeting of Ukraine Defence Contact Group. The talks come after Russia pounded Ukraine with some 300 drone strikes Saturday, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate. In an shift of tone toward Russia, the U.S. president last week gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions. Trump's arms plan, announced a week ago, involves European nations .

Nato at 76: Stronger than ever — or one Trump tantrum away from collapse?

A trillion-dollar pledge. A war in Europe. And Donald Trump, back at the Nato table.

'Cautions against double standards': MEA hits back at Nato chief's warning

Addressing a press conference in the national capital, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, 'We have seen reports on the subject and are closely following the developments'

Nato chief warns India, China, Brazil of US sanctions over Russia ties

Trump didn't name Brazil, China or India but those are three countries that have continued to buy Russian oil and petroleum products in the years since Putin's forces invaded Ukraine in 2022

Trump reiterates claim that he stopped conflict between India & Pakistan

US President Donald Trump Monday reiterated his claim that he stopped the conflict between India and Pakistan, which could have turned into a "nuclear war", through trade. "We've been very successful in settling wars. You have India, (and) Pakistan. You have Rwanda and the Congo that was going on for 30 years," Trump said during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Rutte in the Oval Office. "India, by the way, Pakistan would have been a nuclear war within another week the way that was going. That was going very badly, and we did that through trade. I said, we're not going to talk to you about trade unless you get this thing settled', and they did, and they were both great, great leaders, and they were great, he added. Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim more than a dozen times on several occasions that he helped settle t

Trump to make 'major statement' on Russia soon; expects tougher sanctions

US President Donald Trump expressed disappointment in Russia over the Ukraine war and hinted at a major announcement on Russia next Monday, without providing further details

Nato to fully fund US weapons sent to Ukraine under new deal, says Trump

In recent days, Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Putin over the lack of progress towards ending the war sparked by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

Appearance of Nato bases in Ukraine an immediate threat to Russia: Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said Nato's efforts to turn Ukraine into a strategic military foothold left Moscow with no choice but to launch its 2022 military operation

'He could get offended': Putin halts forum to take Donald Trump's call

Vladimir Putin tells Donald Trump that Russia will not back down in Ukraine, open to talks; both leaders discuss Iran tensions, US weapons pause, and push for diplomatic solutions

Starmer faces down revolt over welfare reform after first year in office

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer marks a year in office this week, fighting a rebellion from his own party over welfare reform and reckoning with a sluggish economy and rock-bottom approval ratings. It's a long way from the landslide election victory he won on July 4, 2024, when Starmer's center-left Labour Party took 412 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons to end 14 years of Conservative government. In the last 12 months Starmer has navigated the rapids of a turbulent world, winning praise for rallying international support for Ukraine and persuading US President Donald Trump to sign a trade deal easing tariffs on UK goods. But at home his agenda has run onto the rocks as he struggles to convince British voters and his own party that his government is delivering the change that it promised. Inflation remains stubbornly high and economic growth low, frustrating efforts to ease the cost of living. Starmer's personal approval ratings are approaching those of Conservative Pr

Russia will no longer play 'one-sided' games with the West: Vladimir Putin

Putin's remarks came just days after the Nato summit in The Hague, where the alliance's members committed to increasing defence expenditure to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035

Nato's new higher spending pledge hinges on outcome of Ukraine-Russia war

Though Wednesday's agreement marks a substantial increase over the current goal of 2 per cent the method of measuring this expenditure offers a slightly altered reality

Zelenskyy meets Trump at Nato; discusses air defence, drone cooperation

Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump was their first meeting face-to-face since April, when they met at St Peter's Basilica during Pope Francis' funeral

Nato countries commit to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte acknowledged that it was not easy for European countries and Canada to find the extra money, but said it was vital to do so

Israel, Iran conflict could restart 'perhaps soon': Donald Trump at Nato

Speaking at the Nato summit in The Hague, Trump said both Israel and Iran seem fatigued but warned that renewed conflict remains a possibility amid regional volatility

Nato chief calls summit 'transformational' despite defence spending rift

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was upbeat that the military organisation will agree on massive spending hikes at a transformational summit on Wednesday, as member state leaders including US President Donald Trump assembled in The Netherlands. Leaders of the 32-nation alliance are expected to agree a new defense spending target of 5 per cent of gross domestic product, as the United States NATO's biggest-spending member shifts its attention away from Europe to focus on security priorities elsewhere. So a transformational summit. Looking forward to it, Rutte told reporters in The Hague, before chairing the meeting's only working session, which was expected to last less than three hours. But ahead of the meeting, Spain announced that it would not be able to reach the target by the new 2035 deadline, calling it unreasonable. Belgium signalled that it would not get there either, and Slovakia said it reserves the right to decide its own defence spending. Rutte conceded that these ar

Nato leaders to meet for what could be historic summit or divided one

US President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts will meet formally Wednesday for a summit that could unite the world's biggest security organisation around a new defense spending pledge or widen divisions among the allies. Just a week ago, things had seemed rosy. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was optimistic the European members and Canada would commit to invest at least as much of their economic growth on defense as the United States does for the first time. Then Spain rejected the new NATO target for each country to spend 5 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence, calling it unreasonable. Trump insists on that figure, but doesn't say it should apply to America. The alliance operates on a consensus that requires the backing of all 32 members. Trump has since lashed out at Prime Minister Pedro Snchez's government, saying: NATO is going to have to deal with Spain. Spain's been a very low payer." He also criticised Canada as a low payer. European allies and Canada a

Germany to raise defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2029

Germany's finance minister on Tuesday vowed to lift the country's defense spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product in 2029 as he presented the new government's spending plans. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's coalition pushed plans through parliament to enable higher defence spending by loosening strict rules on incurring debt even before it took office last month. It acted ahead of the NATO summit starting Tuesday that aims to raise allies' defence spending target from 2 per cent of GDP to 3.5 per cent, plus another 1.5 per cent for potentially defense-related infrastructure. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said Germany's defence spending will hit 2.4 per cent of GDP this year, and we will raise defence spending step by step so that we will reach a NATO quota of 3.5 per cent in 2029. Klingbeil, who is also the vice chancellor, said he will be very vigilant that the money is spent efficiently, for example by aiming for greater cooperation at European level on procurement, ...

Pro-Russian hackers target municipalities linked to Nato summit: Dutch govt

Pro-Russian hackers launched a series of denial-of-service attacks Monday on several municipalities and organisations linked to a NATO summit this week in the Netherlands, the Dutch government announced. The National Cybersecurity Center said in a statement that many of the attacks were claimed by a pro-Russian hackers' group known as NoName057(16) and appear to have a pro-Russian ideological motive. It did not elaborate. The cybersecurity centre said it was investigating the attacks that flood a site with data in order to overwhelm it and knock it offline, and was in contact with national and international partners. Raoul Rozestraten, a spokesman for the municipality in The Hague, the Dutch city hosting the summit Tuesday and Wednesday, said the attacks hit municipalities around the country. We noticed more traffic on the website of some of our service providers, he told The Associated Press. As of now, everything in The Hague is working normally." The government had launched a m