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Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Berendsen with Foreign Minister Sybiha in Kyiv, Ukraine on Feb. 28, 2026.
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No shortcuts for Ukraine's EU accession, Dutch FM says. Reforms key to progress

by Oleksiy Sorokin

Two points remain high on Ukraine's agenda: surviving the Russian onslaught and joining the European Union. President Volodymyr Zelensky believes the two should be tied together, with his office proposing to engrave a set date for Ukraine's EU membership in a potential peace deal with Russia. Tom Berendsen, the new Dutch foreign minister, disagrees with this approach. "If you set a date, you need to make sure that you get (everything done before) the date. It needs to be a realistic date," Be

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Tuesday, March 10

What Putin's latest decree expanding Russia's army actually means

Russian President Vladimir Putin has increased the potential size of the country's armed forces, a move analysts say is tied to long-term military reforms aimed at strengthening Moscow's capabilities against NATO. According to a decree signed on March 4, the maximum number of Russian service members could reach 2,391,770 personnel. Of these, 1,502,640 will serve as active-duty troops — 2,640 more than before. But while the overall numbers are large, experts say they don't necessarily translate

Exclusive: Saudi Arabia prepping 'huge deal' for Ukrainian weapons amid Iranian drone threat

A Saudi Arabian arms company has signed a deal to buy Ukrainian-made interceptor missiles, the Kyiv Independent has learned, with one source within Ukraine's defense industry saying that Riyadh and Kyiv are negotiating a separate "huge deal" for arms that could be finalized this week. Iran’s recent air attacks across neighboring Gulf States amid the U.S. and Israel-led war against Tehran have kicked off a scramble for military equipment to combat ballistic missiles and Shahed attack drones. Wh

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