Jens Stoltenberg News

NATO summit in 2019 when Mr Trump asked jeeringly: “Where are you at? What is your number?" Mr Trudeau had more friends at that summit than Mr Trump. But since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Canada’s position as a penny-pinching outlier has become more embarrassing for the country. The statement of Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general, before the NATO summit in Vilnius this month that spending 2% of national GDP on defence was no longer to be regarded as the “the ceiling" but “the floor" could have been designed to cause blushes in Ottawa.

private investment in defence companies. The remarks came after a meeting of the alliance's chiefs of defence in Oslo on Saturday, according to a report published by Reuters. Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, the chair of NATO's military committee said, “Prices for equipment and ammunition are shooting up.

By Gwladys Fouche and Sabine Siebold

Poland's President Andrzej Duda confirmed Tuesday that Russia has begun shifting some short-range nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus, a move that he said will change the security architecture of the region and the entire NATO military alliance. Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko said last month that Moscow had already shipped some of its tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus after announcing the plan in March. The U.S.

After Russia's withdrawal from a year-old grain deal,  the new NATO-Ukraine Council will host a meeting on Wednesday. In the meeting, the two sides will discuss issues related to Black Sea security, said President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly video address on Sunday.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed new security commitments from the G7 powers on Wednesday, but warned that these could not be a substitute for eventual NATO membership. Speaking after talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Zelensky said the G7 promises should be seen «not instead of NATO, but as security guarantees on our way to integration». «We can state that the results of this summit are good, but should we receive an invitation, then that would be the optimum,» he said at NATO's summit in Vilnius.

NATO's accusation that China challenges the bloc's interests and security, and opposed any attempt by the military alliance to expand its footprint into the Asia-Pacific region. In a strongly worded communique issued midway into a two-day summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Tuesday, NATO said the People's Republic of China (PRC) challenged its interests, security and values with its «ambitions and coercive policies».

Reuters reported. The statement, released on Tuesday, stated that China rejects the references to China in NATO's joint communique from the summit held in Vilnius, Lithuania. It further emphasized China's commitment to firmly protect its sovereignty, security, and development interests.

alliance after the members said they would allow Ukraine to join the alliance “when allies agree and conditions are met". Following this statement, Zelenskyy blasted the organization’s failure to set a timetable for his country as “absurd." Although many NATO members have funneled arms and ammunition to Zelenskyy’s forces, there is no consensus among the 31 allies for admitting Ukraine into NATO’s ranks.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to send Sweden’s accession protocol for joining NATO to the Turkish Parliament “as soon as possible” and to help ensure that the assembly approves it. Stoltenberg made the announcement after talks with Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on the eve of a NATO summit in Lithuania. Sweden’s NATO accession has been held up by objections from Turkey since last year. “This is an historic day because we have a clear commitment by Turkey to submit the ratification documents to the Grand National Assembly, and to work also with the assembly to ensure ratification,” Stoltenberg told reporters. Earlier Monday, with NATO hoping to put on a public display of unity in its support for Ukraine more than 500 days into the war, Erdogan said that he would block Sweden’s path unless European members of the military organization “pave the way” for Turkey to join the world’s biggest trading bloc. His surprise announcement added new uncertainty to Sweden’s bid to become the alliance’s 32nd member. Turkey was already blocking its entry because Erdogan believes that Sweden has been too soft on Kurdish militants and other groups that he considers to be security threats.

Sweden's membership of NATO took a big step forward on Monday after Turkey agreed to remove one of the last major roadblocks in return for help in reviving Turkey's own chances of joining the European Union. At talks in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts are meeting for a two-day summit starting Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan committed to put the Nordic country's accession protocol before Parliament «as soon as possible,» the head of NATO said.

VILNIUS (Reuters) — Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to forward to parliament Sweden's bid to join the NATO military alliance, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday, on the eve of a NATO summit in Vilnius.

NATO leaders are set to make a new defense spending pledge at their summit this week as support for Ukraine eats into their military budgets

NATO was created to deter Soviet tanks and missiles in Europe. Now it is also in the business of deterring China’s global ambitions, spurring concern among some members about mission creep and accusations by Beijing of inciting confrontation.

NATO members, unable to agree on a new leader for the military alliance amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, extended Secretary–General Jens Stoltenberg’s mandate by one year. Stoltenberg, who recently said he had no plans to remain in the office he has held since October 2014, said he was honored by the decision, which is the fourth time his initial four-yearterm has been extended. He will serve through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 75th anniversary next April, and a summit in Washington next summer.

NATO's chief has expressed a worry that fighting in Ukraine could spiral out of control and become an all-out conflict between Russia and NATO, during an interview released on Friday.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian forces have shelled settlements in the southern Kherson region 258 times in the last week.

NATO meets on Tuesday to drum up much-needed support for Ukraine. 

Estonia's foreign minister has called on other European countries to double their defence expenditure because of the Russian war in Ukraine -- adding that his own country planned raise national defence spending to 3% of GDP. 

Russian missile strikes have damaged a hospital in Zaporizhzhia, according to the region’s governor, Oleksandr Starukh.

Germany has offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defence system to help it to secure its airspace, after a stray missile crashed in Poland last week, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht told a newspaper on Sunday.