Far-right Euroskeptic candidate George Simion, head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), received nearly 41% of the votes. Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan placed second with 20.99% of the vote, and the candidate from the ruling coalition, Crin Antonescu, obtained 20.13%.
"We are ready to deepen our contribution to the training of the Ukrainian military," Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on May 5.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump also claimed a peace deal was "fairly close."
Czech President Petr Pavel will host President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Prague Castle later in the afternoon, marking the Ukrainian leader's first visit to the country since July 2023.
The vote follows the annulment of the previous first round held in November 2024, when Romania's Constitutional Court invalidated the outcome due to evidence of social media manipulation and foreign interference.
Until now, only AfD's regional branches in Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt held that status, while the national party had been under observation as a suspected extremist group.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised France’s leadership in building support for a peace agreement, but stressed that European partners must “step up with real resources and political will” if they hope to bring the war to an end.
"Look at Belarus — this summer, Russia is preparing something there under the guise of military exercises. This is how its new attacks usually start," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
While U.S. President Donald Trump has refused to commit American troops, U.S. officials have reportedly opened the door to providing intelligence-sharing and logistical aid to the so-called "coalition of the willing."
Ukraine expects to receive over $39 billion in confirmed budget support from international partners in 2025, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 25.
The publication also released a counterproposal delivered by Ukrainian and European officials earlier this week. The documents expose disagreements on critical issues, including territorial concessions, sanctions relief, security guarantees, and the size of Ukraine's armed forces.
The document, reprinted in full by the news outlet, contains numerous points that show the diverging viewpoints of the U.S. on one side, and Ukraine and its European allies on the other as they seek to end Russia's full-scale invasion.
"If one country in Europe is forced to give up parts of its legal territory... no country in Europe or elsewhere can feel safe, NATO or no NATO," one diplomat told CNN.
"Russia does not like the alliance around Ukraine, because Ukraine, if it is alone, is an easier target for Russia," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The London meeting, originally intended as a ministerial-level summit involving the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, and Ukraine, was notably downgraded after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff declined to participate.
The meeting was to be held at a ministerial level, but was downgraded after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled his participation.
Presidential Office head Andriy Yermak, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov arrived in Paris on April 17 to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and meet visiting U.S. officials.
The courses, expected to begin as early as this summer, will take place at training centers in western Ukraine and will not involve direct combat.
The funds are part of a broader 200 million euros (around $227 million) initiative co-financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The Trump administration officials are dissatisfied with European countries' ongoing support for Ukraine, underscoring the growing rift between Washington and Europe, the Economist reported on April 15, citing undisclosed diplomatic sources.
The U.S. still holds an edge in terms of military aid — its 65 billion euros ($74 billion) lead Europe by 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) — but the gap is shrinking as Washington has not allocated a new aid package since Jan. 9, still under the Biden administration.
"I'm happy to see we already have two-thirds of my ammunition initiative together," Kaja Kallas told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, referring to an initiative to provide Ukraine with 2 million high-caliber rounds worth 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion).
Hungary's opposition leader, Peter Magyar, has positioned himself in contrast to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's policies, promising to reset Hungary's foreign relations and end what he calls the government's isolation from the West.
Ukrainian, French, and British military officials have been discussing Ukraine’s requirements for a potential peacekeeping mission, with Ukraine aiming to secure peacekeepers to prevent future Russian aggression.
The appeal comes amid growing expectations that the Trump administration will proceed with plans to scale back American troop deployments in Eastern Europe.
Zaluzhnyi said the need became critical in the summer of 2022 when Western partners questioned the utility of some weapons Kyiv was requesting.
"There are more F-16s prepared to be deployed in there. There are more pilots in the training pipelines," U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli said on April 3.
NATO's command and control structures could be used to deploy a so-called "reassurance force" to Ukraine, unnamed officials told the FT.
The Danish government approved the 25th package of military assistance to Ukraine, worth 6.7 billion Danish kroner ($970 million), which will support Ukraine from 2025 until 2027.
The U.K. has begun floating plans to European allies to establish a joint European military fund for the purchase of military equipment and weaponry as a means to rearm Europe, the Financial Times (FT) reported on April 2.
The Ramstein summit will take place on the next day after the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing.
"(W)e will hold a meeting on Friday, there will be a meeting of our military teams among several countries, a narrow circle of countries. Those who will be ready to deploy a contingent in one form or another," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 1.
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