NATO

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged allies to be speedy in sending more military help as NATO defence ministers met on Wednesday and Russia bombarded the eastern front line in what appeared to be the early salvoes of a new offensive.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut was facing heavy artillery fire as the NATO chief backed reports from local officials that a major new Russian offensive had begun, days before the first anniversary of Moscow's invasion.

Diplomats in Brussels say there is no consensus as to who should replace former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg

The apparent threat came in a phone call just ahead of the invasion on February 24, according to a new BBC documentary to be broadcast on Monday.

The latest wave of Russian attacks came as the Kremlin said it perceived the tanks "as direct involvement in the conflict".

NATO and EU members Estonia and Latvia told their Russian ambassadors to leave after Moscow said it was downgrading diplomatic relations with Estonia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday there was "no alternative" but for the West to give Ukraine heavy tanks.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday urged allies to double down on sending military equipment to support Ukraine and speed up an end to the war with Russia.

Ukraine needs a "significant increase" in weapons at a pivotal moment in Russia's invasion and such support is the only way to a negotiated peaceful solution, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

Finland's foreign minister said on Tuesday he hoped that Turkey's foreign minister's trip to the United States this week would bring positive impetus to his country and Sweden's bid to join NATO.

The world's largest satellite ground station, on the Svalbard archipelago off Norway, is used by Western space agencies to gather vital signals from polar-orbiting satellites.

NATO and global leaders will meet on Wednesday after a Russian-made rocket fell on NATO member Poland and killed two people, raising concerns that the Ukraine conflict could spill over its borders.

Leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) economies will hold a second day of talks on Wednesday, although the schedule at the summit was disrupted by an emergency meeting to discuss reports of a missile landing in Polish territory near Ukraine.

Stoltenberg will meet Sunak after visiting a military facility where Ukrainian troops are being trained by British military.

Finland's president Sauli Niinisto said on Wednesday he was counting on Hungary to ratify the Nordic country's NATO application after he had talked on the phone with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Russia's capabilities in the North are a strategic challenge for NATO, its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, welcoming Canada's recently announced investments in North American defense systems after making his first visit to the Canadian arctic.

The war in Ukraine is the most dangerous moment for Europe since World War Two, and Russia must not be allowed to win, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

The recent attendance by four Asia Pacific leaders at the NATO summit reflects a "consequential shift" in the U.S.

Sweden and Finland on Wednesday looked set for fast-track membership of NATO after Turkey lifted a veto on them joining, at a summit where the U.S.-led alliance is due to adopt a broad strategy focused on Russian and China for the next decade.

NATO's first new strategy concept in a decade will cite China as a concern for the first time but member states remain at odds over how to describe the country with the world's largest military and its relationship with Russia, NATO diplomats say.

Spain is shifting its foreign policy towards Africa while lobbying the EU and NATO for support to address migration from the continent, aggravated by the Ukraine invasion, two senior government officials and two diplomatic sources told Reuters.

Lithuania must raise defence spending to 3% of GDP to enable it to host a much larger number of NATO troops, its president said ahead of NATO summit that will address how to counter rising security threats posed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

South Korea plans to set up a delegation to NATO in Brussels, the national security adviser said on Wednesday, as Seoul pushes to strengthen its partnership with the organisation and play a bigger role on the global stage.

Latvia on Thursday made a last pitch for the deployment of more NATO troops in the Baltics, two weeks before NATO leaders are set to decide the future military line-up on the alliance's eastern flank in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The situation on the eastern frontline in Donbas has become increasingly desperate, with Ukrainian towns facing near constant shelling from Russian forces.

The numerous videos on social media of Russian helicopter gunships being shot down are very public evidence of the extent of the losses.

Sweden and Finland were both neutral throughout the Cold War, and their decision to join NATO is one of the most significant changes in Europe's security architecture for decades

Norway, Denmark and the three Baltic states are already NATO members, and the addition of Finland and Sweden would likely anger Moscow

Kyiv has asked its Western partners to provide MiG-29 fighter jets that its pilots already know how to fly

Germany had deemed it too early for Ukraine to join NATO in 2008 because it found that the political conditions were not met at that point.