Russia says its forces capture another village in eastern Ukraine
Russian troops took control of the village of Novomykolaivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the Russian defense ministry said on Thursday.
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Arab News
13 hours ago
- Arab News
NATO leaders to meet amid growing geopolitical instability
The 32 leaders of NATO's member states will gather in The Hague from Tuesday for a major summit. This will be the alliance's first summit since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House and it comes at a time of growing geopolitical instability. From war in Ukraine to tensions in the Middle East and the increasing assertiveness of China, there is no shortage of serious challenges. If this week's G7 meeting in Canada is any indicator, this NATO Summit will be short and unlikely to produce a common position on most of the major challenges confronting the alliance. Already, the signs suggest that this summit will be more modest in ambition and structure than previous gatherings. The number of scheduled sessions is lower than usual and a draft of the summit communique circulating through NATO capitals is significantly shorter in both length and scope than past declarations. However, despite these limitations, the alliance's leaders will be eager to project unity. The summit will likely feature strong public messaging on those areas where consensus exists — especially the issue Trump cares about most: increasing European defense spending. More divisive issues, such as the future of Ukraine, the threat posed by China and the ongoing war between Israel and Iran, will be relegated to closed-door meetings. Defense spending will dominate the public agenda. Since the 2006 NATO Summit, member states have committed to spending at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on national defense. For many years, this pledge was largely ignored. By the time Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, only three member states were meeting the target. That same year, at the NATO Summit in Wales, alliance leaders reaffirmed the 2 percent goal and agreed to reach it by 2024. While meaningful progress has been made — 23 countries now meet or exceed the 2 percent threshold — there is no question that Trump views the current level of spending as insufficient. The signs suggest that this summit will be more modest in ambition and structure than previous gatherings Luke Coffey That is why Trump is now pushing for a new benchmark: a combined 5 percent of GDP, to be phased in over the next several years. Under this proposal, NATO members would spend 3.5 percent of GDP on core defense capabilities, with an additional 1.5 percent allocated to defense-adjacent areas such as cybersecurity, critical port infrastructure, strategic transportation networks and national resilience efforts. A few countries have already stepped forward. Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden have laid out detailed and credible plans to reach the new targets. Other countries, such as Spain, have shown greater reluctance, but recent weeks have seen a shift in attitude due to pressure from both Washington and key European allies. Another area where consensus is building is on defense industrial cooperation. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the West's response exposed serious deficiencies in the defense production capabilities of NATO countries. The war has revealed that many allies lack the industrial base to sustain high-intensity conflict, replenish munitions and scale up production quickly. These shortcomings have alarmed policymakers and pushed NATO to take a more active role in coordinating defense production. While NATO, as an intergovernmental security alliance, cannot dictate national industrial policies, it can play a vital coordinating role. It can identify capability gaps, establish common standards and promote the interoperability of weapons and munitions among member states. Still, not all issues lend themselves to consensus. Some of the most pressing matters will be discussed privately. First among them is Ukraine. With US congressional funding for Ukraine set to expire by the end of summer, and with the Trump administration showing decreasing interest in leading peace talks, European countries will soon need to shoulder a much larger share of the burden. The Trump administration is expected to push its European allies to reduce Chinese influence on the continent Luke Coffey How they will do this — and whether they are politically willing to do so — remains unclear. It will require significant political will, financial resources and a united approach that has so far been lacking across much of Europe. As long as Trump is in office, NATO is unlikely to take a leading role in organizing or funding long-term assistance to Kyiv. Another issue looming over the summit is China. The Trump administration is expected to push its European allies to reduce Chinese influence on the continent, particularly in areas such as telecommunications infrastructure, port ownership and advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. However, NATO's mandate as a military alliance limits what it can directly do. It lacks the tools to regulate investment or economic policy. The responsibility will therefore fall to national governments and the EU. Even so, the Trump administration will almost certainly use the summit to press the point behind the scenes. Finally, the war between Israel and Iran will feature prominently in closed-door discussions. Although NATO has no formal mandate in this conflict, the issue is of vital concern to many members. A prolonged or expanded war — particularly if it spills into Iranian territory — could create massive regional instability, including refugee flows, terrorism and economic disruption. Moreover, Turkiye, a NATO member, shares a border with Iran, adding to the alliance's concern. Allies will be watching carefully for signals about how this conflict may evolve and what role, if any, NATO should play in contingency planning. It is in everyone's interest that this summit is perceived as a success. Privately, Trump administration officials have reassured their European counterparts that there will be no surprises. American officials know that Europe remains vital to US interests. Europe is America's largest export market and the biggest source of foreign investment. NATO is not only a military alliance — it is the foundation of the transatlantic economic and strategic order. And in the end, that reality will likely keep Trump invested in the alliance's success. • Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey
Al Arabiya
15 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Putin says ‘the whole of Ukraine is ours' in theory, may take city of Sumy
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russians and Ukrainians were one people, 'and in that sense the whole of Ukraine is ours,' and said he did not rule out Russia taking control of the Ukrainian city of Sumy. But Putin, speaking at an international economic forum in St Petersburg, said Russia had never doubted Ukraine's right to sovereignty, but noted that when Ukraine declared its independence in 1991 it was as a 'neutral state.' Putin, who says Russia is fighting in Ukraine to protect its own security, was answering a question about Russia's war aims. 'We have a saying, or a parable,' Putin said. 'Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours.' Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected Moscow's claims to four Ukrainian regions and Crimea as illegal, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected the notion that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Putin said Russian forces were carving out a buffer zone in Ukraine's Sumy region in order to protect Russian territory and said he did not rule out those same troops taking control of the regional capital of Sumy.
Al Arabiya
16 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
An adviser to an ex-Ukrainian president is killed near an American school in Spain, officials say
An adviser to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was shot to death Wednesday outside the American School of Madrid where at least one of his children was enrolled, Spanish authorities and witnesses said. Andrii Portnov, 51, was shot at 9:15 a.m. (0715 GMT) as students were arriving, Spain's Interior Ministry said. Portnov was a former politician tied closely to Yanukovych, the pro-Moscow president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was ousted in a popular uprising in 2014 after shelving plans to bring the country closer to the European Union and instead deepen ties with President Vladimir Putin's Russia. Yanukovych's ouster in February 2014 followed a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, with dozens of people killed, many by police snipers. Portnov was deputy head of the presidential office in that period and was involved in drafting legislation aimed at punishing participants of the uprising. Ukrainian authorities opened a treason case against him, which was later closed, and he also was the subject of US sanctions involving corruption in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on Portnov's killing. Witnesses said Portnov was shot several times in the head and body by more than one gunman when he was getting into a Mercedes Benz registered to him, police said. The unidentified assailants then fled on foot, and local media reported police helicopters later flew over a nearby park. Portnov died in the parking lot with at least three shots to his body, Madrid's emergency services said. He had one child enrolled at the school, according to a parent and an uncle of students there who spoke with The Associated Press. The school declined to comment. After fleeing Ukraine in 2014, Portnov reportedly lived in Russia in 2015 before relocating to Austria. It wasn't immediately clear when he moved to Spain. In 2018, when pro-Western Petro Poroshenko was president of Ukraine, the country's Security Service, or SBU, opened an investigation against Portnov on suspicion of state treason, alleging his involvement in Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The criminal case was closed in 2019, three months after Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to power. The United States imposed personal sanctions on Portnov in 2021, designating him as someone 'responsible for or complicit in, or (who) has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.' Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there have been a number of killings of high-profile figures linked to Moscow and Kyiv. The killings have included Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist; military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky; and several high-ranking Russian military officers. In those instances, Ukraine denied involvement. One exception was former Ukrainian lawmaker Illia Kyva, who fled to Russia before the invasion and was killed there in 2023. The SBU said in a statement that its chief, Vasyl Maliuk, has said 'the enemies of Ukraine will definitely be held accountable for their crimes.' One killing that prompted speculation of retaliation by Moscow was the shooting death in Spain last year of Russian pilot Maxim Kuzminov, who defected to Ukraine in 2023, although there was no independent confirmation of Russia's involvement. Police cordoned off a crime scene in a parking lot outside the gate of the American School of Madrid, located in the upscale town of Pozuelo de Alarcón, north of Madrid. Luis Rayo, 19, who lives in a neighboring building, said he was sleeping when he heard gunfire and went to see what happened. One student who is in 11th grade said he was 20 minutes into his first class when he and his classmates heard of the shooting. School administrators told students that a man had been shot and pronounced dead outside. 'I thought it was a drill,' he said. 'I was worried because at first I thought it might be a parent of someone I know.' His mother, who is originally from Azerbaijan, said she knew someone through the emigré community with the same first name as the victim but did not know him well. 'I didn't know there were Ukrainian politicians there,' she said, adding that the man she knew had a son in the fourth grade. 'I was in shock. Like how is it possible that this happens here?'
