Turkey and Pakistan send troops to Saudi Arabia as Mecca defence pact is invoked
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Defence
Latest reporting and analysis on defence.
Rubio lands in Iceland as US tightens its Arctic grip
The visit comes two weeks after Washington sealed a security pact on Greenland and five weeks after Icelanders voted against reopening European Union accession talks.
Brussels reservists struggle to get leave as EU preaches defence readiness
Two European Commission officials who serve in the French reserve forces say the EU executive's staff rules do not match its own calls for a war-ready Europe.
US withdraws bombers from British base at centre of Iran plot inquiry
The aircraft left RAF Fairford a week after a security alert that Prime Minister Andy Burnham has linked to Iran.
Russia and Ukraine vow deeper strikes
Moscow has promised to intensify attacks on the Ukrainian capital after Zelensky said Kyiv would hit Russian refineries harder, while Germany signed 15 agreements…
Netanyahu pledges more submarines and warships as sea becomes ‘international battlefield’
Israel's naval expansion rests on German shipyards at a time when Berlin's arms exports to the country are running at record levels.
Zelensky asks EU again for money to strike deeper into Russia
The Ukrainian president pressed European ambassadors in Kyiv to release unspent defence loans, hours before announcing the first combat use of Ukraine's own ballistic…
Denmark calls out Home Guard volunteers in largest exercise since the Cold War
Exercise Blåtand puts armed volunteers into more than 40 Danish towns a week after the country's military intelligence service warned that Russia would step up…
Spanish army intelligence identifies 72 Moroccan military personnel inside Ceuta
Some are said to watch Spanish patrols. They stay in private homes, train in groups and receive money from across the border.
US investigates whether Spain’s Indra passed Pentagon technology to China
American defence businessmen have told the US Department of Commerce that the state-backed Spanish contractor resold their technology through China, with Spain's…
Britain’s defence secretary tells Milei that Argentina cannot take the Falklands
Wes Streeting said the question was settled in 1982, while Brussels keeps out of a dispute that now runs through its trade ties with Buenos Aires.
British police arrest five near air base and evacuate Gloucestershire village
Officers have given no indication of a motive and have not linked the five men to any country, group or cause.
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‘Fort Trump’ is confirmed, says Polish President Nawrocki
Poland, which borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, Belarus and Ukraine, sees a permanent US presence as an important deterrent against Russia.
Swiss voters set to reject bid to lock strict neutrality into constitution
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Zelensky calls oligarch delistings ‘suicidal’ as von der Leyen promises more defence aid
The Ukrainian President has urged Brussels to tighten sanctions on Moscow on the day member states agreed to drop two Russian billionaires from the EU blacklist.
UN Palestine rapporteur Albanese says NATO keeps Ukraine war open and backs halt to arms
The political calculation that kept "that front" open, she said, "does not originate in Europe, but inside NATO, NATO led by the United States".
Kallas calls for tougher action on Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ as sanctions renewal stalls
The EU foreign policy chief has said Europe must raise the price Moscow pays for its sabotage campaign, while also asking member states for more warships in the…
US asks Poland to postpone defence minister’s Pentagon visit
Warsaw is sending two deputy ministers to Washington in his place, days after Donald Trump hailed progress towards a permanent US Army base in Poland.
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Italy weighs pulling Red Sea warships from EU command as Rome hits out at Brussels bureaucracy
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto is considering placing Italian naval assets deployed under the EU’s Aspides mission under national command to protect merchant…
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On the brink of war? Europe’s leaders press on towards confrontation with Russia
Germany counted hospital beds for wounded troops, Lithuania mapped escape routes and Britain asked households to stock tinned food.
US strikes deal with Denmark and Greenland on Arctic island’s security
Washington claims the agreement grants it "permanent control" over Greenland's defence, while Copenhagen insists it recognises Danish sovereignty and the Greenlandic…
Macron orders infrastructure shield against Russian attacks and calls G7 energy meeting
"The Russian hybrid threat against Europeans and against France has intensified," he said.
Drone hits cooling tower at Russian nuclear plant days after Trump’s energy truce claim
The reactor unit kept running and no fire broke out, though the head of the UN nuclear watchdog has called for maximum military restraint.
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European Parliament holds Morocco responsible for the Ceuta invasion
The Strasbourg text told Rabat that any challenge to Spanish sovereignty was incompatible with its status as a partner of the Union.
Trump hails ‘major progress’ towards permanent US base in Poland
The US President credited Karol Nawrocki as Warsaw said two sites remained in contention and a decision was expected within weeks.
US House clears Russia sanctions bill and hands Trump new tariff powers
The measure named after the late senator Lindsey Graham now goes to the White House, where President Donald Trump is expected to sign it into law.
Trump announces Russia-Ukraine energy truce that neither side confirms
The US president said Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to spare each other's energy sites, though Ukraine set conditions and the Kremlin would not promise reciprocal restraint.
Russian frigate fires flares at Danish military helicopter over the Baltic
Copenhagen has summoned Russia's ambassador after one of the flares passed close to the aircraft during a routine patrol off the Danish coast.
NATO jets shoot down drone over central Lithuania
Italian Eurofighters on Baltic Air Policing duty destroyed the aircraft near Kaunas in what Lithuanian officials have called the first interception of its kind over…
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Meloni rules out alliance with parties opposed to Ukraine support
The move poses a major challenge to the unity of the Italian right, whose parties are increasingly divided over the issue.