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Added on the 27/03/2023 11:21:07 - Copyright : Euronews EN
Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius says he believes the EU member will manage to send a first battalion of tanks to war-torn Ukraine by April. "I think we could deliver at least one battalion in the first four months of this year. Three months maybe. And then we have to proceed as fast as possible of course," he tells reporters while on a visit to Warsaw. SOUNDBITE
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
Tanks, cargo truck with fighters of rebel mercenary Wagner group leave the military headquarters the group had occupied earlier in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, after its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin halted the fighters' march on Moscow. IMAGES
Troops from the rebellious Wagner mercenary group are out in force in the city of Rostov-on-Don outside the army headquarters for Russia's southern military district, with passers-by stopping to look at the military vehicles. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says his troops have taken control of the headquarters, Russia's main command centre for Ukraine operations, as well as an airbase in the city, vowing to topple Moscow's top military leaders. IMAGES
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says during a press conference in Colombia's capital Bogota that he welcomes the conversation between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, thought to be their first call since Russia invaded Ukraine. SOUNDBITE TO FOLLOW 33DW89G
Images show Ukrainian heavy T72B3 tanks and BMP-2 infantry vehicles on the road heading to the frontline in eastern Ukraine. IMAGES