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To get Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to end his block on a 50 billion euro ($54.3 billion) aid package for Ukraine, other European Union leaders teamed up ahead of a crunch summit to deliver a stark message: You're on your own this time. The veteran Hungarian leader, who maintains close ties to Moscow despite its invasion of Ukraine, has been adept in the past at finding enough support among his peers to drive a hard bargain in EU negotiations. But in the days and hours before Thursday's special summit in Brussels, leaders - individually and in groups - told...

BERLIN, Jan 24 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do so while the U.S. may supply Abrams tanks, magazine Spiegel reported on Tuesday. A government spokesperson declined to comment. The defence ministry was not immediately available for comment. The decision concerns at least one company of Leopard 2 A6 tanks that will be provided out of Bundeswehr stocks, Spiegel said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that "Ukraine has the momentum" in the war with Russia and the Western defence alliance would stand with Kyiv as long as it takes. "While Russia is increasingly resorting to horrific and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure, President Putin is failing in Ukraine," Stoltenberg told a news conference on the eve of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

The European Union summoned Russia's envoy to the bloc to condemn and reject Moscow's "illegal annexation" of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, the bloc's diplomatic service said on Tuesday. Russia declared the annexations on Friday after holding what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kyiv said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative. The EU said it urged Moscow to reverse its "unlawful act" and unconditionally withdraw all its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine during Monday's meeting with Russia's charge d'affaires, Kirill Logvinov. "The EU does...

Turkey has agreed to support Finland's and Sweden's bids for NATO membership, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday (28 June). "I am pleased to announce that we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO," he told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Madrid. "Turkey, Finland and Sweden have signed a memorandum that addresses Turkey's concerns, including around arms exports and the fight against terrorism," he added.

The United States and Britain warned Russia on Tuesday over any new military aggression against Ukraine as the Western military alliance NATO met to discuss Moscow’s intentions for massing troops on the border with the former Soviet republic. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to brief his 29 NATO counterparts on Washington’s intelligence on the group’s eastern flank and in Ukraine, which is not a member.