‘If we don’t help Ukraine further, we should start learning Russian,’ Kallas echoes Rutte’s warning
EU’s Kallas continues:
On Ukraine, the European Union is doing its part here too, not least because Ukraine is Europe’s first line of defence. We know that Russia responds to strength and nothing else.
She highlights the importance of the 18th sanction package proposed by the EU, saying that “every sanction weakens Russia’s ability to fight this war.”
But she ends on a warning again:
We have to do more for Ukraine, for our own security too.
To quote my friend Nato secretary general Mark Rutte: if we don’t help Ukraine further, we should all start learning Russian.
The stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield today, the stronger they will be around the negotiation table when Russia finally is ready to talk.
Key events
Spain pushes back against mooted 5% Nato spending goal: AFP
Despite Kallas’s rhetoric, not every country appears to be entirely persuaded about the need to radically ramp up defence spending within Nato.
AFP noted that Spain is baulking at suggestions the target should rise to five percent as an aggressive Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine has stretched into a fourth year, menaces Europe.
“Many countries want five (percent), we respect that… but Spain will fulfil those objectives set for us,” defence minister Margarita Robles said on the sidelines of a meeting of Nato counterparts in Brussels this month.
Ukrainian parliament passes law to allow multiple citizenship
Ukrainian parliament passed a law to allow Ukrainians to have multiple citizenship in an attempt to ease a demographic crisis caused by Russia’s war and to enhance ties with diaspora, Reuters reported.
The bill was passed by 243 deputies, lawmakers said.
The change will help millions of Ukrainians living abroad, who until now could not get a second citizenship of their host country, despite significant practical benefits.
Putin to speak with foreign reporters later today
Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin is set to take questions from international journalists on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Associated Press reported.
Putin scheduled a roundtable session with senior news leaders of international news agencies, including the Associated Press.
Among other issues, he’s expected to spell out Moscow’s position on the conflict between Israel and Iran that he offered to help mediate in a weekend call with US president Donald Trump, AP noted.
I will keep an eye on this event and bring you the key news lines when it happens.
‘If we don’t help Ukraine further, we should start learning Russian,’ Kallas echoes Rutte’s warning
EU’s Kallas continues:
On Ukraine, the European Union is doing its part here too, not least because Ukraine is Europe’s first line of defence. We know that Russia responds to strength and nothing else.
She highlights the importance of the 18th sanction package proposed by the EU, saying that “every sanction weakens Russia’s ability to fight this war.”
But she ends on a warning again:
We have to do more for Ukraine, for our own security too.
To quote my friend Nato secretary general Mark Rutte: if we don’t help Ukraine further, we should all start learning Russian.
The stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield today, the stronger they will be around the negotiation table when Russia finally is ready to talk.
Russia ‘direct threat’ to EU, with ‘long term plan for long term aggression’, EU’s foreign policy chief warns
Opening the debate in the European Parliament, the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warns:
We are living in very dangerous tough times.
Russia is already a direct threat to the European Union.
Russia is violating our airspace, conducting provocative military manoeuvres near EU borders, targeting our trains and planes, attacking our pipelines, undersea fibre optic cables and electricity grids, assaulting our industry, including companies supporting Ukraine, and is recruiting criminals to carry out sabotage attacks, and it is steadily building up its military forces and expanding its nuclear arsenal.
Last year, Russia spent more on defence than the European Union combined.
This year, Russia is spending more on defence than its own healthcare, education and social policy combined.
This is a long term plan for a long term aggression. You don’t spend that much on military if you do not plan to use it.
She goes on to call on countries to work towards the new Nato 5% defence spending target as early as they can, adding:
Europe’s collective economic might is unmatched. I don’t believe that there is any threat that we can’t overcome if we act together and with our Nato allies.
Morning opening: Ukraine and Europe left in limbo as attention shifts elsewhere
Jakub Krupa
Ukrainian diplomats have been left frustrated – and in some cases embittered – at Donald Trump’s refusal to make Ukraine a priority after Volodymyr Zelenskyy flew 5,000 miles to the G7 conference in Canada only for the US president to return home the night before the two leaders were due to meet, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reported.
The snub came a day after “one of the most horrific attacks” on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, during the three-year war, with the death toll from the Russian strike rising to 21, with more than 130 injured.
The move shows a dramatic shift as the world focuses on the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
But where does it leave Europe and Ukraine?
European lawmakers will be this morning discussing the upcoming Nato summit in The Hague, looking at some of these issues.
I will bring you the key lines from their discussion.
It’s Wednesday, 18 June 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
