Nordic and Baltic countries on Monday pledged to increase military aid to Ukraine, including training and weapons, as their leaders visited Kyiv. They pledged to provide additional support for Ukraine, including equipping and training a “scalable brigade-sized unit” and investing in Ukraine’s defence industry. A brigade was 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers, the Norwegian government said.
In a separate statement, Norway said it was planning to use 3.5bn Norwegian kroner (€190m/US$315m) for purchases from the Ukrainian defence industry; and 600m kroner to buy drones and develop drone technology for Ukraine. Denmark said it was pledging €2bn Danish kroner (€169m/US$280m) in military aid to Ukraine. Sweden’s government announced a pledge of 1.2bn Swedish kronor (€68m/US$113m) for air defences. Estonia, a country of 1.3 million people, announced it would up its aid to Ukraine by 25% including buying 10,000 mortar shells for an additional €25m, on top of €100m already pledged from its defence industry. Latvia pledged it would this year deliver to Ukraine armoured personnel carriers, drones and other equipment, having invested €500,000 into Ukraine’s defence in the last three years.
Rheinmetall, Europe’s top ammunition maker, on Monday said it intended to repurpose two sites that make car parts, in Berlin and Neuss, to mostly make defence equipment. It said both plants would be made part of Rheinmetall’s weapon and ammunition division and serve as hybrid plants, ensuring some automotive production could still take place.
Europe should use money from frozen Russian assets for further military support of Ukraine and relax its fiscal rules to boost defence spending, the Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, said on Monday. Czech defence spending must grow to 3% of gross domestic product in several years from about 2% in 2024, to reflect the new geopolitical reality, Fiala said in an address to the nation.
A Russian air attack injured a 44-year-old woman and damaged houses in the Kyiv oblast, Mykola Kalashnyk, governor of the region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital, said on Tuesday morning. All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts in the early hours of Tuesday as the Ukrainian air force warned of a Russian missile attack. Neighbouring Poland scrambled aircraft to ensure air safety. Russia said its air defence units intercepted and destroyed 19 Ukrainian drones overnight. Sixteen of them were over Bryansk, Moscow’s defence ministry said. Ukraine has repeatedly succeeded in hitting military and industrial targets in Bryansk, including oil infrastructure.
The EU is still spending more money on Russian fossil fuels than on financial aid to Ukraine, a report marking the third anniversary of the invasion has found.
The French president, Emmanual Macron, after meeting with Donald Trump, said Europe was prepared to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire including peacekeepers, although they would not be sent to the frontline. Trump, the US president, claimed Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine.
Next up to meet with Trump is Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, whose office said on Monday said Trump had changed the Ukraine debate “for the better”. Starmer told world leaders gathered in Kyiv: “It has created an opportunity. Now we must get the fundamentals right.”
Ukraine must “definitely” participate in any talks, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Monday. “If results are to be obtained from the new process, Ukraine must definitely be included in the process and this war must be ended through mutual negotiations,” said Erdogan, who has insistently supported Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity since the Russian invasion.
Britain announced new sanctions against Russia as David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, said history had shown that Moscow would respond only to strength, rather than “paper promises”. The Foreign Office said 107 new entities would face sanctions, including 40 “shadow fleet” ships and 14 “new kleptocrats”, as part of the largest package since 2022. Among those sanctioned was No Kwang-chol, the North Korean defence minister, because his country is sending troops to fight for Russia. Other targets include the Kyrgyzstan-based Keremet Bank, and companies in China, India and Turkey that supply tools and goods to Russia’s military. The UK Home Office widened travel sanctions for Kremlin-linked figures.
Russia said it had struck a deal with Ukraine and the Red Cross to evacuate residents from the Kursk region, parts of which have been seized by Ukraine. Kursk people already in Sumy in Ukraine would be taken through neighbouring Belarus and then into Russia. The Red Cross said only that it was supporting evacuated civilians in the Sumy region, without confirming any agreement.
The UN security council has adopted a US resolution on the Ukraine war that was supported by Russia because it contained no criticism of the illegal invasion. There were 10 votes in favour and none against; five abstentions included France and Britain, who could have vetoed the resolution. Earlier, the US was forced to abstain as the much larger UN general assembly passed a resolution that did condemn Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
