Germany will meet NATO's two-percent spending target from next year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday, after Russia's war in Ukraine sparked a major policy shift on defence in Berlin.
Miner Vitali volunteered to fight against Russia from the first days of the conflict at the front lines in his native Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, where orthopaedic surgeon Olga Pidgaiska worked in a hospital.
In a factory in a tranquil German village, 120 mm tank shells with black-painted tips, packed into wooden crates, sit on pallets waiting to be delivered to Ukraine.
Hundreds of civil servants and local employees working for German institutions in Russia will need to leave the country or
lose their jobs in the coming days following an order by Moscow, Germany's foreign ministry said Saturday.
Ukraine has asked Berlin to provide it with Taurus air-to-surface missiles that have a range of in excess of 500 kilometres, Germany's defence ministry told AFP on Saturday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he plans to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin "in due course", holding out the prospect of resuming contact after a near-total breakdown in relations since the Ukraine war.
Any decision to send F16 fighter jets to Ukraine will fall on the White House, the German and UK defence ministers said Wednesday despite a jet "coalition" announced by Britain and the Netherlands this week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Pope Francis Saturday during a trip to Rome, as Berlin unveiled a huge new weapons package ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Germany is preparing a new weapons package for Ukraine worth 2.7 billion euros, reportedly Berlin's largest since Russia invaded last year, the defence ministry said Saturday.
German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall said Friday it will form a joint venture with Ukraine's state weapons manufacturer to maintain military vehicles in Ukraine and later produce some equipment.
A Berlin court on Monday banned Russian flags and symbols from being displayed around three Soviet memorials in the German capital during World War II commemorations.
A Berlin court has overturned a ban imposed by the German capital's police on Ukrainian flags around Soviet monuments on May 8 and 9, police said Saturday.
Russia on Saturday announced the tit-for-tat expulsion of over 20 German diplomats following the "mass" removal of Russian embassy staff from the country and accused Berlin of destroying ties.
Germany on Thursday approved a request from Poland for the re-export of five Soviet-era fighter jets to Ukraine, one of Kyiv's key requests to help repel Russia's forces.
Germany on Sunday condemned a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, bringing the arms closer to the European Union.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday warned that it was crucial to provide Ukraine with fresh ammunition as soon as possible to resist Russia's invasion and pledged quick EU action.
EU defence ministers on Wednesday discussed plans to raid their stockpiles to rush one billion euros' worth of ammunition to Ukraine and place joint orders for more to ensure supplies keep flowing.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed Thursday to ramp up Germany's armaments manufacturing industry, after NATO warned that Ukraine was currently using up more ammunition than allies were producing.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday that Germany and its allies were in talks with Kyiv over future security guarantees in preparation for a sustainable peace for Ukraine.
Protesters in Germany and France on Saturday demanded peace for Ukraine, a day after activists in both countries marked one year since the Russian invasion.
