A record 18 member countries are set to meet the defence alliance’s target of spending 2% of their economic output on defence this year, Nato says. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it was a marked increase from 11 out of Nato’s 31 members a year ago. Germany is due to meet the threshold for the…
Nearly two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine Fergal Keane returns to Lviv station where in February and March 2022 he witnessed the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two. In the stories of two individuals he examines how the war – now dragging into its third year – has affected the…
A big Russian amphibious ship, the Caesar Kunikov, has sunk off the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea according to Ukraine’s armed forces. Powerful explosions were heard early on Wednesday morning, according to local social media, which suggested the landing ship had been hit not far south of the town of Yalta. Ukraine has repeatedly hit Russia’s…
Europe will need 10 years before it is fully ready to defend itself, the boss of Germany’s biggest defence firm, Rheinmetall, told the BBC. Armin Papperger said that ammunition stocks are currently “empty”. He made the comments during a visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a foundation-laying ceremony for a major new arms manufacturing plant…
When Pavlo Zhilin and his patrol hit the streets of Cherkasy, men often swerve to avoid them. Pavlo is a conscription officer looking for soldiers for Ukraine’s army. But almost two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, there’s no flood of volunteers to the front line anymore. Most of those who wanted to fight are either…
Finland’s conservative former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has won Sunday’s presidential election, final results show. He secured 51.6% of the vote, while his Green Party rival Pekka Haavisto, the former foreign minister, had 48.4%. Mr Haavisto has already admitted defeat. It is the first election since Finland joined the Nato military alliance. Mr Stubb, 55,…
Donald Trump’s suggestion the US would not protect Nato allies failing to spend enough on defence “undermines all of our security”, the Western military alliance’s chief has said. Jens Stoltenberg also suggested it put US and European troops at greater risk. The Republican said he had told allies he would “encourage” Russia to attack any…
And so it begins. Nine months still to go before the next US presidential election and already the Republican party favourite and former President Donald Trump is sending eyes rolling skywards with his seemingly outlandish statements. And yet they will delight many of his supporters. Suggesting at a rally in South Carolina that he would…
Donald Trump says he would “encourage” Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its bills as part of the Western military alliance. He said he had once told a Nato leader he would not protect a nation behind on its payments if it came under attack from Russia, and would “encourage them…
It was March 2022. The Russian rouble crashed, the value in London of corporate giants Gazprom and Sberbank fell 97%. Queues began to form at cash machines in Moscow. Oligarchs’ yachts, football teams, mansions and even their credit cards were seized. Russia crashed into a major recession. This was the immediate result of the most…