🔄 Click here to see the latest updates
4 posts
6 mins ago
NATO chief expects 'swift' ratification of Swedish and Finnish bids for alliance
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrives for a news conference during the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, on June 28.
(Photo: Bernat Armangue/AP)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he hopes Sweden and Finland will quickly become members of the military alliance.
"We will make a decision today or at least at the summit to invite Sweden and Finland to become members, that is unprecedentedly fast," he said upon arrival at the NATO summit in Madrid on Wednesday, after both countries They will submit the application in mid-May.
After the invitation, "we need a ratification process in 30 parliaments, that always takes some time, but I also hope that it will go quite quickly because the allies are willing to try to make that ratification process happen as quickly as possible," he said.
What to expect from the historic NATO summit in Madrid amid Russia's war in Ukraine
NATO leaders meeting this Wednesday in Madrid "will clearly declare that Russia represents a direct threat to our security," Stoltenberg also said.
On Monday, Stoltenberg announced that NATO would increase the number of high readiness forces to more than 300,000 in the eastern part of the alliance.
Stoltenberg said Wednesday that he hopes these forces will be ready by next year.
11 mins ago
More fighting around Lysychansk and Russian forces advancing south of Bakhmut
By Tim Lister, Olga Voitovych
Ukrainian soldiers travel in an armored vehicle on the main road to Lisychansk, in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, on June 26, 2022. (Photo by BAGUS SARAGIH/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian forces are focusing their efforts on surrounding the city of Lisychansk, the Ukrainian Army General Staff reported earlier on Wednesday.
Russian forces already control the approaches to the south and east of Lisychansk, and fighting continues near the main road to the south-west of the city, where a large oil refinery is located.
The Russians are also trying to get closer to the town of Bakhmut, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Lysychansk, and have made some progress south of the town, the General Staff said.
If they are successful, they could trap the Ukrainian forces still defending the lines in a pocket of territory in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
"The enemy is partially successful, he is entrenching himself in the northern part of Klynove and near the E-40 highway," the General Staff said.
"To keep up the pace of the offensive in this direction, the occupiers reinforced the group with a tactical battalion."
Some Ukrainian officials have called the E-40 "the highway of life" because of its importance for resupplying troops and evacuating civilians, which would be greatly complicated if the Russians intercepted the highway.
Elsewhere in Donetsk — near Sloviansk — the General Staff said the Russians remained focused on assault operations north of the city and had moved more weapons and military equipment into the area.
Local Ukrainian officials have previously said the Russians are reinforcing north of Sloviansk, one of the main Donetsk cities still in Ukrainian hands.
Russia bombs a busy shopping mall in Ukraine, sparking fears of mass casualties
The General Staff said the Russians were continuing to shell the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy from across the border and had also launched a multiple launch rocket system.
Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, head of the Sumy region military administration, said three people had been killed.
The Russians have also carried out airstrikes, he said, using helicopters that fired missiles from across the border.
The city of Krasnopillya was "covered" in fire, he said.
In southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military says the Russians have added a tactical group of battalions to forces south of Kryvyi Rih.
Yevhen Sytnychenko, head of the Kryvyi Rih district military administration, said the city's thermal power plant had been bombed but was still operating.
"The aim of the Russians is to intimidate the civilian population," he said, adding that a man had been injured in the shelling of a village south of the city.
In the city of Dnipro, the bodies of two people have been recovered from the rubble of a shipping depot attacked on Tuesday, according to local authorities.
13 mins ago
Biden arrives at NATO summit in Madrid
By Kevin Liptack
President Joe Biden has arrived at the NATO summit in Madrid, where he is scheduled to announce a major reinforcement of forces along the alliance's eastern flank as Russia's war in Ukraine shows no signs of slowing down.
NATO leaders come to the talks buoyed by a diplomatic victory after Turkey dropped its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the military alliance, laying the groundwork for the two long-neutral countries to enter into the defensive block.
In Madrid, leaders plan to agree on major new security commitments not seen since the Cold War.
On Tuesday, Biden said he was sending two additional destroyers to Naval Station Rota in Spain to bolster the US maritime presence in the region.
He will make other announcements on Wednesday about the build-up of forces on "land, sea and air," according to his top national security adviser, who said US forces on NATO's eastern edge would move "steadily" to the region.
17 mins ago
NATO will support Ukraine as long as necessary, says German Chancellor
By Chris Stern
Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz speaks to the press upon his arrival at the NATO summit at the Ifema congress center in Madrid, on June 29, 2022. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that NATO allies will continue to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia "for as long and as intensively as necessary."
"Russia, with its brutal war of aggression, has violated Ukraine's sovereignty and integrity," Scholz told reporters upon arrival at the NATO Summit in Madrid.
"It is fair that the states that are meeting here, but [also] many others, make their contributions so that Ukraine can defend itself with financial means, with humanitarian aid, but also by providing weapons that Ukraine urgently needs."
On Tuesday, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said that Berlin would contribute a division of 15,000 soldiers, with 65 planes and 20 ships, to NATO's high readiness force.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg announced Monday that the alliance would increase the number of troops on high alert to more than 300,000 from 2023.
war in ukraine