EU leaders finally approved €50 billion in funding for Kyiv until 2027 in early February after Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán had blocked the package in a previous December meeting. U.S. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has had trouble passing a military aid package to Ukraine through Congress, where it is opposed by a significant share of … Read more
Russia, of course, remains the biggest problem for most NATO countries. Not only is Ukraine in need of more Western ammunition to sustain an existential fight against invading Russian forces, but Moscow has also significantly escalated its threat to NATO. On Tuesday it designated Prime Minister Kaja Kallas of Estonia, a frontline NATO state, a … Read more
However, two-thirds believe commitments to expand the military under the Zeitenwende modernization drive announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine haven’t been delivered. In total, 57 percent of those surveyed back the government’s plan to invest 2 percent or more of GDP in defense to meet the target set by NATO, but … Read more
The bloc wants to finalize a 13th package of sanctions against Russia before Feb. 24, which would mark two years since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The European Commission has also urged national governments to take “concerted action” to toughen sanctions enforcement. EU Council President Charles Michel served notice to Xi Jinping at … Read more
This battlefield transparency is invaluable for artillery and air forces to attack targets. Until recently, “imprecision” would have been the kindest way to interpret the often thousands of rounds needed to assure some confidence that a target could be destroyed. And given the vagaries of weather, wind and a host of other factors, even with … Read more
The Munich Security Index 2024 also reveals how the war in Ukraine is competing with other geopolitical threats and priorities. Concern about mass migration and radical Islamic terrorism now top the list of threats in Germany — a turnaround from the previous year. The threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism jumped to second place, compared … Read more
“Serbia has other options. A free trade agreement with China has just been concluded,” Orbán said, referring to a deal signed last October with Serbia’s second-largest trade partner after the EU. Orbán also dismissed Kyiv’s prospects of fending off Russia’s invasion and joining the EU, claiming the only way for Ukraine to survive is for … Read more
Almost all Hungarians see Novák, despite her head-of-state status, as a mere puppet under the longtime prime minister. Orbán, after all, is the one calling the shots as far as politics in this Central European state is concerned. The other person hit by the turmoil is Judit Varga, a Hungarian lawmaker who was to lead … Read more
“Yes, there have been recorded cases of the use of these devices by the Russian occupiers. This is starting to become systematic,” Andrii Yusov, a representative of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, told Ukrainian website RBC-Ukraine. Musk’s satellite service, which uses thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbits to beam internet services, has been … Read more
Citing the EU’s decision to allocate more funding for Ukraine at the extraordinary European Council summit last week, the German chancellor urged the U.S. Congress to do its part to defend Ukraine by green-lighting the further aid proposed by Biden. Scholz said congressional approval of the aid package would “send the right message to the … Read more
