The payout, drawn from a pool of 10 billion euros ($11.3 billion) in cash frozen under EU sanctions since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, comes in response to Russia's confiscation of billions in Western-held assets over the past year.
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.
EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said the EU is also drawing up a “plan B” to maintain economic sanctions on Russia in case the Trump administration pulls out of Ukraine peace negotiations and moves to restore ties with Moscow.
The decision formalizes Hungary's intention, first announced in early April during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Budapest.
"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.
Ukraine’s military spending grew by 2.9% in 2024 to reach $64.7 billion, roughly 43% of Russia’s total expenditure, according to a report released on April 28 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Security guarantees could include not "Article 5 itself, but specifically those forces and the protection that Article 5 provides to NATO countries," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"Negotiating with the war criminal Putin is evidently futile," a statement signed by officials from eight countries said.
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.
Sergei Shoigu also said any European future peacekeeping forces deployed to Ukraine would be seen by the Kremlin as a provocation.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban voted on April 22 in a national poll opposing Ukraine’s accession to the EU, publicly sharing photos of himself marking “against” on the ballot.
Every time Daryna Koryagina enters her Budapest flat rented to her by a Hungarian friend, she sees the same sticker on a wardrobe inside the entrance. "Sorry about our prime minister," it reads. The 33-year-old refugee and PhD student is one of tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled Russia's
"We see that the Russian threat against Europe is increasing, including after a possible end of the war against Ukraine," MIVD director Peter Reesink said in the agency's annual report.
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, at the age of 88, in his residence in Vatican City, the Vatican news service reported.
Moldova's parliament voted on April 17 to hold elections on Sept. 28 – a vote that could potentially threaten the majority currently held by pro-Western President Maia Sandu's party.
The U.S. indicated during recent talks in Paris that it has developed a draft concept for how a comprehensive ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia might be monitored if one can be achieved, a Western official said.
U.S. officials said they expect tangible progress soon, while European participants pushed Washington to prepare a harsher response if Moscow fails to engage, Bloomberg reported.
The most notable personnel change was the removal of Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, a longtime pro-Russian figure who has served in the Serbian government since 2013.
"For a long time, we feared that the Europeans would not be around the table. Well, today, it is in Paris that the Europeans, the Americans, and the Ukrainians have met for the first time," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
"(U.S.) President (Donald) Trump and the United States want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace," U.S. State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
The decision reflects growing dissatisfaction in Berlin with the way Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to manipulate the legacy of the war to justify Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"Russia, which is behaving aggressively towards NATO and implementing its brutal and bloodthirsty imperialism, has been attacking Ukraine for three years," Polish President Andrzej Duda said.
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.
These countries have shown "high aggressiveness" towards Russia and are "constantly rattling their weapons," Russia's Foreign Intelligence Director Sergey Naryshkin said on April 15.
The proposal calls for limiting Russian diplomats to their consular districts, a restriction already implemented in Poland.
The strategy, originally scheduled for release last month, was postponed amid growing uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's new tariff policies, which could affect energy trade and strain transatlantic negotiations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued that the end of the Eastern Bloc eliminated the threat NATO was originally created to counter, yet the alliance not only persisted but also allegedly claimed a dominant role in European security.
President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin's long-term objective is to restore a Russian empire that would include parts of NATO member states.
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.
Russia launched two ballistic missiles at the city in northeastern Ukraine on the morning of Palm Sunday, when many citizens were celebrating the religious holiday.
The European Commission recently unveiled a plan for rearming the European Union and strengthening the bloc’s defense capabilities. By 2030, the Commission intends to arm Ukraine and develop member states’ militaries to the extent needed to deter or counter Russian aggression. To fund this effort, the Commission plans to
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the country plans to acquire more IRIS-T systems in the coming years and confirmed the upcoming delivery of 1,100 additional ground surveillance radars.
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