Page 6 - Nato

Ready to give up presidency if it brings peace, Nato membership: Zelenskyy

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he would be ready to give up the presidency if it brought peace and NATO membership. Speaking at a forum of government officials in Kyiv marking the three-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy said he would step down if doing so would achieve a lasting peace for his country under the security umbrella of the NATO military alliance. If to achieve peace, you really need me to give up my post, I'm ready, Zelenskyy said in response to a journalist's question on whether he'd trade his office for peace. I can trade it for NATO." Zelenskyy's comment appeared to be aimed at recent suggestions by US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that elections should be held in Ukraine despite Ukrainian legislation prohibiting them during martial law.

Trump's outreach to Putin disrupts US-Ukraine policy and Nato ties

The key element of Mr Trump's deal appears to centre on veiled threats to withdraw US military aid to Ukraine to persuade Kyiv to cede to Russia territory

Nato must decline membership promise to Ukraine: Russia's foreign ministry

Zakharova said that Ukraine needed to return to the position of its 1990 declaration of sovereignty from the Soviet Union, in which Kyiv said that it would become a permanently neutral state

US, including Biden's admin, never saw Ukraine as Nato member: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the United States, including the Biden administration, never saw Ukraine as a NATO member. Zelenskyy spoke Friday to the Munich Security Conference. He is expected to meet with US Vice President JD Vance later. Many observers, particularly in Europe, hope Vance will shed at least some light on US President Donald Trump's ideas for a negotiated settlement to the war following a phone call between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week.

Europe can't turn Uncle Sam into 'Uncle Sucker,' says US defence secretary

Hegseth on Thursday defended his remarks as acknowledgement of battlefield realities and left the door open for US moves during negotiations that could be seen as concessions

Nato allies insist Ukraine and Europe must not be cut out of peace talks

Several NATO allies stressed on Thursday that Ukraine and Europe must not be cut out of any peace negotiations, after US President Donald Trump signalled that he would hold talks soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Let's not forget, Russia remains a threat well beyond Ukraine, UK Defence Secretary John Healey after the United States rattled NATO by saying that Ukraine should never join the alliance and that European allies should take responsibility for Ukraine's security going forward. There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine. And Ukraine's voice must be at the heart of any talks, Healey told reporters at NATO headquarters, as the organization's 32 defense ministers met for talks on Ukraine. Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson said European nations provided about 60% of the military support to Ukraine last year and must be involved, especially given US. demands that Europe take more responsibility for Ukraine's security in the longer term. It's very natura

US defence secy Hegseth rejects troops support, Nato membership for Ukraine

The comments amounted to a major reorientation of US policy as President Donald Trump looks for ways to bring the war in Ukraine to an end

Nato's Dragone meets Zelenskyy, discusses military aid, long-range drones

Zelenskyy also expressed gratitude for Dragone's first foreign visit to Ukraine

EU leaders meet today to discuss defence against Russia and handling Trump

EU leaders are expected to discuss what military capabilities they need in the coming years, how they could be funded and how they might cooperate more through joint projects

Nato is deploying eyes in sky and on Baltic Sea to protect vital cables

With its powerful camera, the French Navy surveillance plane scouring the Baltic Sea zoomed in on a cargo ship ploughing the waters below closer, closer and closer still until the camera operator could make out details on the vessel's front deck and smoke pouring from its chimney. The long-range Atlantique 2 aircraft on a new mission for NATO then shifted its high-tech gaze onto another target, and another after that until, after more than five hours on patrol, the plane's array of sensors had scoped out the bulk of the Baltic from Germany in the west to Estonia in the northeast, bordering Russia. The flight's mere presence in the skies above the strategic sea last week, combined with military ships patrolling on the waters, also sent an unmistakable message: The NATO alliance is ratcheting up its guard against suspected attempts to sabotage underwater energy and data cables and pipelines that crisscross the Baltic, prompted by a growing catalogue of incidents that have damaged ...

Not sure if US should be spending anything on Nato, says Donald Trump

Washington finances 15.8 per cent of the 32-member military alliance's yearly expenditure of around $3.5 billion, joint-largest share, alongside Germany

Russia rejects idea of Nato peacekeepers in Ukraine in event of a ceasefire

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is seeking a meeting with Trump, said on Tuesday that at least 200,000 European peacekeepers would be needed to prevent a new Russian attack

Nato launches new Baltic sentry mission to protect undersea cables

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced on Tuesday that the alliance is launching a new mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea region. Rutte said at a meeting in Helsinki with the leaders of NATO countries located on the Baltic Sea that the effort would be dubbed Baltic Sentry. It will involve a range of assets, including frigates and maritime patrol aircraft, among others, and will enhance our vigilance in the Baltic, Rutte told reporters. He also said that a small fleet of naval drones will be deployed to provide enhanced surveillance and deterrence. The meeting comes as a string of incidents in the Baltic has heightened concerns about possible Russian activities in the region.

Meeting Trump's military spending goals not easy: European defence firms

The defence ministers of Europe's five top military spenders said Monday they want to continue increasing their investments in defence but described meeting President-elect Donald Trump's challenge for them to raise spending to 5 per cent of their overall economic output as complicated. The defence ministers of Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Poland came together near Warsaw for a meeting in a new format that they established after Trump was re-elected last year. Their first meeting in this format of five NATO members was held in Berlin in late November. The five are seeking ways to maintain their support for Ukraine as US policy is expected to shift when Trump takes power. They also discussed how to strengthen Ukraine's own weapons production capacity. The German minister, Boris Pistorius, stressed at the start of the meeting that they all support a just peace for Ukraine, one in which Kyiv has a say over its fate. There are concerns in Europe that Trump could push Ukraine to .

Sweden to contribute up to 3 warships to reinforce Nato presence in Baltic

Sweden will contribute up to three warships to a NATO effort to increase the alliance's presence in the Baltic Sea as it tries to guard against sabotage of underwater infrastructure, the government said Sunday. The Swedish military also will contribute an ASC 890 surveillance aircraft, the government said in a statement. And the country's coast guard will contribute four ships to help monitor the Baltic, with a further seven vessels on standby. Sweden became the Western military alliance's 32nd member in March. It followed neighbouring Finland into NATO after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The government said this will be the first time that Sweden as a NATO ally contributes armed forces to the alliance's defence and deterrence. The decision comes as a string of incidents in the Baltic has heightened concerns about possible Russian activities in the region. The undersea cables and pipelines that crisscross the sea link Nordic, Baltic and central European ...

US lawmaker reintroduces bill to end Pakistan's major non-Nato ally status

Initially introduced by Biggs in January 2019, the bill has been reintroduced in every subsequent Congress but has not advanced legislatively in any attempt

Trump says he could understand Russian feeling with Nato on their doorstep

US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he understands the Russian feeling with NATO being on their doorstep. You know, a big part of the problem was Russia for many, many years, long before (Russian President, Vladimir) Putin said, you could never have NATO involved with Ukraine. Now they've said that's been like written in stone. Somewhere along the line (US President, Joe) Biden said no, they should be able to join NATO. Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep and I could understand their feeling about that, Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. There were a lot of mistakes made in that negotiation. When I heard the way that Biden was negotiating, I said you're going to end up in a war and it turned out to be a very bad war. That war could escalate to be much worse than it is right now, he said in response to a question. My view is that it was always understood. In fact, I believe that they had a deal and then Biden broke it. They had a deal

Leaked files show Russia's military preparedness against Japan, South Korea

Leaked documents reveal Russia's military strategy to address its concerns over eastern borders in a potential NATO conflict. This is due to the potential involvement of US assets and regional allies

Nato calls for investigation of Azerbaijan Airlines crash that killed 38

An Embraer passenger jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people

Trump's Nato push: Higher defence spending, continued aid to Ukraine

Trump plans to push Nato allies to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP while continuing aid to Ukraine, marking a significant shift in his foreign policy approach