Europe

Western leaders gathered in Brussels for an emergency NATO summit on Thursday (March 24), where they agreed to bolster defences along the alliance’s eastern flank. Four new NATO battlegroups are being set up in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. “Today NATO leaders agreed to reset our deterrents and defense for the longer term to face a new security reality. On land, we

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Thursday (Feb. 24). He claimed that Russia does not intend to occupy Ukraine but instead will move to “demilitarise” it. The Russian leader added that Russia was acting in self-defence and the use of Ukraine’s territory by NATO was unacceptable. Shortly after his announcement, large explosions were heard in Kyiv,

Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region as independent states and ordered troops into the territories to “keep peace.” Until now, Russia had refused to recognise the territories. “I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago – to immediately recognise

The leaders of the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s republics located in the historical Donbas region of Ukraine, announced the start of mass evacuations of their territories to Russia on Friday (Feb. 18). Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin said in a televised address that the evacuation into the Rostov region, located in the southern part of Russia, bordering Ukraine, has been coordinated with “Russian leadership.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz met on Tuesday (Feb. 15) in Moscow. The first face-to-face meeting of the two leaders since Scholz took office lasted slightly over three hours and Putin emphasized that Russia does not want any war. “This is precisely why we put forward the proposals on the negotiating process that must result in an agreement

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday (Feb 10) the meeting with his UK counterpart in Moscow was “a talk of a mute with a deaf.” “I’m honestly disappointed that what we have is a conversation between a mute and a deaf person … Our most detailed explanations fell on unprepared soil,” Russia’s top diplomat told reporters. He added that the

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told local media on Friday (Jan. 28) that Moscow did not want war with Ukraine but restated the Kremlin would not allow its security interests to be ignored. “If it depends on the Russian Federation, there will be no war. We do not want wars, but we will not allow our interests to be rudely attacked, we