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Added on the 08/03/2023 13:16:28 - Copyright : Euronews EN
NATO foreign ministers meet for the NATO-Ukraine Council foreign ministers' session. One of the issues on the agenda is military aid to Kyiv. It comes on the 75th anniversary of the alliance, menaced by an aggressive Russia and the spectre of Donald Trump's return to power. IMAGES
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for Western countries to accelerate deliveries of promised air defence systems and fighter jets, on the eve of the second anniversary of Russia's invasion. Zelensky is speaking alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, as Western leaders descend on the country in a show of support for Kyiv as the war enters its third year. SOUNDBITE
A meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization kicks off in Brussels, with the US-led defence alliance's foreign ministers set to discuss NATO's ongoing backing for Ukraine against Russia amid doubts over US support and a bloody stalemate on the ground. There are fears that a lack of adequate support from the West -- at a time that it is distracted by the Israel-Hamas war -- could end up forcing Kyiv to seek a compromise with Russian President Vladimir Putin from a position of weakness. IMAGES
NATO members have agreed that their established goal of spending two percent of their national output on defence will become a minimum level, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg tells reporters. "Eleven allies now reach or exceed the two percent benchmark," he says at the end of the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius. "And we expect this number will rise substantially next year. Today, allies made an enduring commitment to invest at least two percent of gross domestic product annually in defence." SOUNDBITE
EU foreign and defence ministers meet in Brussels, agreeing on a two-billion-euro plan to raid their own arsenals and jointly purchase desperately needed artillery shells for Ukraine. IMAGES
NATO and the EU announce a "joint taskforce" aimed at bolstering the protection of critical infrastructure in the face of threats from Russia. SOUNDBITE