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Added on the 28/08/2018 11:12:52 - Copyright : Wochit
Thousands of NATO troops hit the ground in Poland in a massive show of force as the alliance launches its biggest war games in eastern Europe since the Cold War. IMAGES
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell decries Russia's attack on the Ukrainian port city Mariupol as "a massive war crime", as the bloc discusses imposing more sanctions on Moscow. SOUNDBITE
Russian naval war games continue in the Black Sea near Crimea where relations with Ukraine are worsening, with Kiev's U.N. envoy calling for Security Council meeting to help ease hostilities. Mana Rabiee reports.
Sweden joining NATO shows Russian President Vladimir Putin "failed" in his Ukrainian war strategy of weakening the alliance, its chief Jens Stoltenberg says. The Kremlin's invasion not only prompted formerly non-aligned nations Sweden and Finland to come under NATO's defence umbrella, but now "Ukraine is closer to NATO membership than ever before," Stoltenberg adds. SOUNDBITE
US President Joe Biden says during his State of the Union address that Ukraine is capable of stopping Putin if the US provides Kyiv the "weapons it needs to defend itself." SOUNDBITE
NATO forces cross the Vistula River at Korzeniewo in Poland as part of the US-led defence alliance's Exercise Dragon 24, involving around 4,500 soldiers and almost 1,000 vehicles. Dragon 24 is itself part of Exercise Steadfast Defender 24, NATO's largest military exercise since the Cold War, which is designed to test its defences in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine. IMAGES
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk welcomes his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau in the Polish capital Warsaw. During an earlier visit to Kyiv on the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine, Trudeau appeared to accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of assassinating his political opponent Alexei Navalny. IMAGES