Europe's East 16-07-2024
European Council President Charles Michel issued a stinging reply to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday (16 July) to “set the record straight” on his rogue diplomacy over Ukraine, as the EU's boycott of meetings under the country's EU presidency continues to widen.
Germany plans to halve its military aid to Ukraine next year, despite concerns that US support for Kyiv could potentially diminish if Republican candidate Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Seeing the military patrol handing out call-up papers on the outskirts of Kyiv, one man slipped into a nearby store. Another refused to even stop for the officers. Others, however, quietly obliged.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday (15 July) he aimed to have a plan ready in November to enable Kyiv to hold a second international summit on his vision of peace in Ukraine, and he said representatives of Russia should attend.
Hungarian opposition politician Péter Magyar, the main challenger to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is en route to deliver aid on Wednesday (10 July) to the Kyiv children's hospital hit during Russian airstrikes this week.
NATO leaders backed Ukraine's "irreversible" path into the Western military alliance as expected on Wednesday (10 July), but stopped short of providing a concrete timetable and framework.
EU member states on Wednesday (10 July) blasted Hungary for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's solo diplomatic initiative on Ukraine but did not discuss ways to rein in Budapest's potential future efforts.
Budapest on Wednesday (10 July) downplayed mounting concerns that EU countries could boycott future informal meetings hosted by the Hungarian EU presidency.
Ukraine's allies cannot and should not wait until the US election in November to take action to repel Russia's President Vladimir Putin, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged on Tuesday (9 July).
NATO leaders on Wednesday (10 June) are expected to pledge more advanced air defence capabilities and offer more F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to counter Russia's intensified missile strikes on the country. On the eve of the NATO summit, Russia had …
The Russian navy's Black Sea Fleet has been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea to other locations, and its main naval hub is becoming ineffectual because of attacks by Kyiv, Ukraine's navy chief said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday (8 July) to discuss a potential Ukraine peace deal, paying the unexpected visit to Beijing days after his talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin angered some European Union leaders.
Russia blasted the main children's hospital in Kyiv with a missile in broad daylight on Monday (8 July) and rained missiles down on other cities across Ukraine, killing at least 41 civilians in the deadliest wave of air strikes for months.
After Hungary's solo diplomatic outreach to Russia and China, EU member states this week are expected to seek more clarity about its results, with some keen to explore options on how to reign in what they see as Budapest's 'destructive behaviour'.
On their first visit to Kyiv on Saturday and Sunday (6 and 7 July) , Dutch defence minister Ruben Brekelmans and foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp held meetings with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior Ukrainian officials.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's controversial visit to Russia, condemned by most EU leaders as appeasement towards Moscow, aimed to ‘collect information’ about the possibility of a ceasefire, his chief foreign policy advisor told Euractiv.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was in Beijing on Monday (8 July) for a visit he branded as a "Peace mission 3.0" after recent trips to Moscow and Kyiv.
In this week's edition: Your ultimate cheat-sheet for the Washington NATO Summit.
While NATO leaders this week are expected to reassure Ukraine of their continued support, they are likely to fall short of clearly addressing the possibility of Ukraine’s future membership in the Western military alliance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Viktor Orbán on Friday that Ukraine must effectively capitulate if it wants peace, in a visit to Moscow by the Hungarian leader that angered the EU, US and Kyiv.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán travelled to Moscow on Thursday (4 July) to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, only a few days after his visit to Kyiv, on a trip that earned him stern rebukes from EU officials and diplomats.
For more than four months, US envoys delivered increasingly shrill warnings to Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International to scrap a deal they said had links to one of Russia's most powerful oligarchs. In May, Washington's patience snapped.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan told Russia's Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (3 July) that Ankara could help end the Ukraine-Russia war, but Putin's spokesman said Erdoğan could not play the role of an intermediary in the 28-month-old conflict.
Ukraine is not ready to compromise with Russia and give up any territory to end the war, a senior Ukrainian official said on Tuesday (2 July) when asked about US presidential candidate Donald Trump's declaration that he could quickly end the conflict.
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán urged Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday (2 July) to consider a ceasefire to accelerate an end to the war with Russia and also said he wanted a big cooperation agreement with Kyiv.