India-France Relations further Strengthened with EAM Jaishankar’s Visit
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s just concluded his four-day visit to France, which took place within four months of Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the country, reaffirms the robust and long-standing strategic partnership between India and France. Mr Jaishankar was in France from June 11 to 14, an official release said. During the visit, Jaishankar called on the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and appreciated France’s strong support for India in the fight against terrorism. The two sides, during the meeting, committed to fully implementing the Horizon 2047 Roadmap and Defence Industrial Roadmap that were agreed between the two leaders. The discussions reflected the deep trust, comfort, and shared ambition that characterise the India-France bilateral ties. Jaishankar also held comprehensive bilateral discussions with his counterpart, Jean-Noel Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France. The two ministers reviewed and appreciated the progress made in India-France collaboration in strategic domains of defence, security, space, counter-terrorism, and global issues. Click here to read...
Trump Hints at No More US Sanctions on Russia at G7 Summit
Donald Trump suggested he will not hit Russia with more sanctions at the G7 summit, saying Europeans should “do it first” and that “sanctions cost us a lot of money." The EU and U.K. are both pushing for more coordinated sanctions against Vladimir Putin's regime at the Canada-hosted gathering of leaders, but the U.S. president has so far refused to sign up to fresh action. He added: “When I sanction a country, that costs the U.S. a lot of money — a tremendous amount of money. “It's not just, let's sign a document. You're talking about billions and billions of dollars. Sanctions are not that easy. It's not just a one-way street.” The president said he wanted to keep trying to push forward stalled peace negotiations before hitting Russia with further punitive measures. The EU is calling for a cut to the price cap on Russian oil — a key sanction against Putin — from $60 to $45. Click here to read...
Russian Strikes on Kyiv Kill at Least 14 with Attacks Reported Across Ukraine
An overnight attack on Ukraine’s capital killed at least 14 people, the head of Kyiv’s military administration said on June 17, with Russian strikes reported across the country. “According to initial reports, there are already 14 deaths in Kyiv,” Tymur Tkachenko said, adding that rescuers were still searching the rubble for victims. Waves of Russian drones and missiles struck districts across Kyiv, damaging an apartment building and sparking fires, city officials said. Reuters witnesses said drones swarmed over the capital and they heard what seemed to be missiles overhead. An air raid alert remained in effect for more than seven hours. Other parts of the country also came under attack, including areas outside the capital and the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, where the regional governor reported at least four strikes. The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said many casualties were in the Solomianskyi district, near the city centre, where a drone damaged the top floor of an apartment building and other non-residential areas. Click here to read...
Starmer to Announce New Sanctions Targeting Russia
The UK is expected to unveil new sanctions against Russia designed to "restrict Putin's war machine" alongside other Ukraine allies. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the measures would increase economic pressure on the Kremlin to show Vladimir Putin "it is in his and Russia's interests to demonstrate he is serious about peace". However, it appeared unlikely that the US would join the move after Donald Trump signalled his opposition to further measures during the G7 summit in Canada, saying the sanctions "cost [the US] a lot of money". Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said 14 people were killed after another wave of drone and missiles struck Kyiv overnight. Downing Street said the new sanctions package would aim to keep up "pressure on Russian military industrial complex" but did not provide further details. In a statement, Sir Keir also said that he and other G7 partners were finalising the new measures at the Alberta summit, and that they would "squeeze Russia's energy revenues and reduce the funds they are able to pour into their illegal war". Click here to read...
Europe will Never Return to Russian Gas, European Commission Insists
The European Commission has insisted there will be no return to Russian gas, as it published plans to phase out fossil fuel imports from its eastern neighbour by 2028. The EU energy commissioner, Dan Jørgensen, said a proposed ban on Russian gas imports would remain, irrespective of whether there was peace in Ukraine. EU officials recalled when Russia cut gas supplies in 2006, 2009 and 2014, as well as the deliberate reduction in flows in 2021 before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which contributed to a huge rise in energy prices and surging inflation across the continent. Under the proposals, European companies would be banned from importing Russian gas or providing services at EU liquified natural gas terminals to Russian customers. The proposal is facing a backlash from Hungary, Slovakia and Austria, but these countries are not thought to have enough support to block the plan from becoming EU law. Click here to read...
President Zelenskyy to make first visit to Council of Europe in Strasbourg amid escalating war in Ukraine
At the invitation of Secretary General Alain Berset, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 25 June 2025. This first visit comes as Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine intensifies, marked by some of the deadliest attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. President Zelenskyy will address the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, presided over by Ian Borg, Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism. The Committee of Ministers is finalising the legal instruments necessary to launch the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, following its endorsement of the Tribunal’s establishment at its annual meeting in Luxembourg on 14 May 2025. “Aggression must not go unpunished,” said Secretary General Alain Berset. “This Special Tribunal is to deliver accountability and ensure that those who bear the greatest responsibility are held to account. Because without accountability, there can be no lasting peace — for Ukraine, and for Europe.” Click here to read...
Canada and EU sign Defence Pact amid Strained US Relations and Global Instability
Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, on June 23 joined European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and head of the European Council, António Costa, in Brussels, where they signed a security and defence partnership, pledged more support for Ukraine, as well as joint work on issues from the climate crisis to artificial intelligence. This wide-ranging defence pact with the EU, comes as Donald Trump and global instability prompt traditional US allies to deepen their alliances. At a cordial press conference, Carney described Canada as “the most European of the non-European countries” that “looks first to the European Union to build a better world”. Costa spoke in kind: “The European Union and Canada are among the closest allies in the transatlantic space. We see the world through the same lens. We stand for the same values.” The EU-Canada security and defence partnership opens the door to increased Canadian participation in the EU’s fledgling €150bn defence fund, known as Safe. The defence partnership also means working on joint capabilities, interoperability and joint procurement, referencing air defence. Click here to read...
Zelensky Visits U.K. After Russian Attack on Kyiv Kills at Least 9
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visited Britain on June 23 to press for more military support for his embattled nation, just hours after a major Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv killed at least nine people and injured over 30. The attack was the latest in a series of deadly and intensifying Russian strikes on Ukraine. But concerns are growing in Kyiv that such assaults are drawing less attention and condemnation from Western allies as their focus shifts to the Middle East and the U.S. entry into the Israel-Iran war. Against this backdrop, Mr. Zelensky’s visit to Britain seemed aimed at keeping Ukraine at the top of his allies’ agenda. The Ukrainian leader began his visit with a meeting with King Charles III and had lunch with him at Windsor Palace. He then met Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the speakers of both houses of Parliament. Mr. Zelensky said after the meetings that discussions had focused on developing joint weapons production projects and tightening sanctions on Russia. “Our main objective right now is to stop Russian terror and force Russia into peace,” he wrote on social media. Click here to read...
NATO Commits to Major Defence Spending hike sought by Trump
NATO allies have agreed to massively boost military spending while affirming their “ironclad commitment” to collective defence. Leaders from the 32-member bloc pledged to allocate up to 5 percent of their national GDP to defence and related sectors by 2035, describing the move as a “quantum leap” in collective security. The new pledge was made in a summit communique agreed on June 25 in The Hague. It stated that members would “invest 5 percent of GDP annually on core defence requirements as well as defence- and security-related spending”. The commitment includes a review point in 2029, conveniently set for after the next US presidential election, to evaluate progress and reassess the threat posed by Russia. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte hailed the agreement as “transformational”, a sentiment echoed by several leaders, though it glossed over clear differences within the alliance. US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly pushed for a higher NATO defence spending commitment, took credit for the shift. Click here to read...
Zelenskyy meets Trump on NATO Sidelines
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and United States President Donald Trump have held talks on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, with sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, and arms procurement for Kyiv on the agenda. Zelenskyy said he discussed how to achieve a “real peace” and “protect our people” with Trump on June 25, as well as a possible joint production of drones. The meeting, which reportedly lasted 50 minutes, was a second attempt after Zelenskyy failed to meet Trump earlier this month in Canada when the US president abruptly left a G7 summit as the Israel-Iran conflict raged, just days before the US militarily intervened with strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites. Speaking at news conference ending his participation at the NATO summit, Trump said it is possible that Russian President Vladimir Putin has territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine, adding that he plans to speak to Putin soon about ending the war. Click here to read...
Ukraine to Withdraw from Anti-Personnel Mines Ban Treaty, says Zelenskyy
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines. The 1997 treaty, joined by more than 160 countries, bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. It aims to protect civilians from these mines detonating after a conflict is over. Anti-personnel mines often have no alternative for defence, according to Zelenskyy, who described them as the “signature style of Russian killers – to destroy life by all method at their disposal.” “Russia has never been a party to this convention and uses anti-personnel mines in an extremely cynical manner,” said Zelenskyy. “By taking this political step, we are sending a signal to all our partners on what to focus on. This applies to all countries along the perimeter of Russia’s borders.” Other nations bordering Russia, including Finland, Poland and Estonia, have either withdrawn from the Ottawa Convention or said they intended to do so. Click here to read...
Next EU Climate Target to allow Carbon Offsets from 2036, Draft Shows
The European Commission will permit countries to outsource a portion of their climate efforts to poorer countries from 2036, according to a draft proposal. The EU executive plans to present the bloc’s 2040 emissions-reduction target on Wednesday after several months of delay. The goal will be set at 90 percent below 1990 levels, the draft amendment to the European Climate Law shows. Such credits will allow the EU to pay for emissions-slashing projects in other, usually poorer countries, and count the resulting greenhouse gas reductions toward its own 2040 target, rather than the climate goals of the country hosting the project. The draft proposal envisages using them only in the second half of the decade. The Commission aims to propose legislation regulating such credits at an unspecified date, the draft adds. “Their specific role and deployment would need to be based on a thorough impact assessment and subject to the development of Union law setting robust and high integrity criteria and standards, and conditions on origin, timing and use of such credits.” Click here to read...
Thousands Party at Budapest Pride in Clear Message to Orban
Beneath a blaze of rainbow flags and amid roars of defiance, big crowds gathered in the Hungarian capital Budapest for the city’s 30th annual Pride march – an event that, this year, is unfolding as both a celebration and a protest. Moving through the capital in the sweltering heat, demonstrators carried signs reading “Solidarity with Budapest Pride” and waved placards bearing crossed-out illustrations of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Music played from portable speakers as people of all ages joined the march – families with pushchairs, teenagers draped in capes, and older residents walking alongside activists. From the city’s historic centre to its riverside roads, the procession swelled in numbers and noise – visibly reclaiming public space in defiance of a law designed to push them out. The march proceeded in open defiance of a police ban imposed earlier this year under sweeping new legislation that prohibits LGBTQ+ events nationwide. Click here to read...
UK and US to Begin Implementing Trade Deal ‘Very Soon,’ says Starmer
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that Britain and the United States will “very soon” start implementing their recently-signed trade agreement, making the UK to be the first country to secure a deal with Trump to roll back his blanket tariffs. Under this deal, tariffs on British automobiles will be slashed from 25% to 10%. Albeit, this will only apply to the first 100,000 cars exported to the US each year. While the UK had agreed to eliminate tariffs on key American exports like ethanol and beef, however, the UK Trade Secretary hinted negotiations of US tariffs on UK steel could take longer. Starmer has also emphasised that the de-escalation of Israel-Iran conflict would remain number one priority at the G7 Summit, highlighting the intersection between geopolitics and trade in transtalantic relations. Click here to read...
