
Zelensky arrives in Vilnius for Nato eastern flank summit
VILNIUS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Monday in Vilnius for a summit with the leaders of NATO's eastern and Nordic members, who are some of Kyiv's staunchest backers amid the Russian invasion.
The military alliance has bolstered its eastern defences since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with Finland and Sweden also overhauling decades of security policy to join the alliance.
The summit brings together the Bucharest Nine -- the alliance's members across eastern and central Europe -- with its Nordic members, Zelensky and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Zelensky's spokesman said he would hold 'bilateral meetings' on the sidelines of the summit in the Lithuanian capital.
It comes ahead of a full NATO summit later in June in The Hague to which Zelensky has demanded he be invited to.
'If Ukraine is not present at the NATO summit, it will be a victory for Putin, but not over Ukraine, but over NATO,' he said last week.
Zelensky wants NATO to offer security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire or peace deal with Russia -- something Moscow has called 'unacceptable.'
NATO's eastern members have been some of the strongest backers of Ukraine since Russia invaded and have repeatedly warned about the prospect of Moscow stepping up its aggression.
Baltic states Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are former Soviet republics, now EU members, that fear they are in Moscow's crosshairs.
US President Donald Trump has heaped pressure on NATO's European members to increase their defence spending, sparking fears about the US commitment to protect the continent.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Star
25 minutes ago
- The Star
Canada promises to ramp up defense spending, met NATO target much earlier
FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) Eid Festival in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 6, 2025. REUTERS/Patrick Doyle/File Photo TORONTO, June 9 (Reuters) - Canada's Liberal government will pour extra billions into its armed forces and hit NATO's 2% military spending target this fiscal year, much earlier than scheduled, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Monday. Canada has been under heavy pressure from the United States and other NATO allies for years to increase funding for its military. Canada currently spends about 1.4% of GDP on defense. "Now is the time to act with urgency, force, and determination," Carney said in a speech in Toronto. The previous Liberal governent had promised to hit the NATO target by 2032. Canada will boost pay for the armed forces and buy new submarines, aircraft, ships, armed vehicles and artillery, as well as new radar, drones and sensors to monitor the sea floor and the Arctic, Carney said. (Reporting by Wa Lone, writing by David Ljunggren, editing by Promit Mukherjee) ((Reuters Ottawa editorial; Keywords: CANADA POLITICS/DEFENSE


The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Latvia probes MP over Russian language rights row
RIGA: Latvia said on Monday it had initiated a criminal case against lawmaker Aleksejs Roslikovs for backing Russia, an 'aggressor state', and fomenting hatred in the country. The State Security Service (VDD) intelligence agency said this followed a June 5 parliamentary debate when Roslikovs, a member of the Russian-speaking minority, was removed from the chamber. He had shouted in Russian 'We are the majority!' and 'Russian is our language', according to Latvian media. He is suspected of 'providing assistance to the aggressor state Russia in action directed against Latvia and triggering national hatred and enmity,' the VDD said. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison. The debate followed Latvia's decision, taken after Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, for Russian-speaking residents of Latvia to pass the Latvian language exam or face deportation. As of 2025, around 23 percent of Latvia's 1.8 million population describe themselves as ethnic Russian, according to the country's statistics office. However, the requirement to pass the language exam will only apply to a small portion of the ethnic Russian population. Roslikovs is head of the For Stability! party, which advocates for the ethnic Russian minority. The eurosceptic party secured 10 seats in the 2022 parliamentary election. In a video posted on Facebook, Roslikovs said the accusations were the result of his fight 'for truth and justice' and that he was 'defending part of the population that lives in Latvia'. Contacted by AFP, his political party did not respond to a request for comment.


The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Russia and Ukraine exchange group of younger prisoners of war, Moscow says
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia and Ukraine have carried out a prisoner of war exchange involving POWs under the age of 25, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday, saying the swap was the result of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month. The June 2 Istanbul talks resulted in an agreement to conduct an exchange of at least 1,200 POWs on each side - focusing on the youngest and most severely wounded - and to repatriate thousands of bodies of those killed in the war. Both sides said it would be the biggest exchange once completed, something that was expected to happen in phases. The return of prisoners of war and the return of the bodies of the dead is one of the few things the two sides have been able to agree on, even as their broader negotiations have failed to get close to ending the war, now in its fourth year. The Russian Defence Ministry did not say in its statement how many POWs had been exchanged on Monday, but said both sides had swapped the same amount of military personnel. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said at the weekend that a first list of 640 POWs had been handed to Ukraine. The Russian military said its returned servicemen were now in Belarus, a close Russian ally, where they were getting psychological and medical assistance before being transferred to Russia for further care. The Kremlin had said earlier on Monday that Russia was ready to honour agreements with Ukraine on the prisoner of war exchange and on the repatriation of dead soldiers despite what it said was Kyiv's failure to fully honour its side of the bargain. (Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew OsbornEditing by Guy Faulconbridge)