European leaders including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet in The Hague on Tuesday to launch an International Claims Commission to compensate Kyiv for hundreds of billions of dollars in damage from Russian attacks and alleged war crimes.

Unveiling her plan on Dec. 4, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would cover two-thirds of Ukraine’s needs for 2026 and 2027, for a total of 90 billion euros ($105 billion). International partners would fill the gap.

Ukraine claimed it carried out an underwater drone strike on Dec. 15, the first such attack in maritime warfare, that critically damaged a Russian Kilo-class attack submarine at the Russian port of Novorossiysk,

Germany is undergoing a significant military rearmament. The change has been driven by the ongoing war in Ukraine and U.S. pressure on Europe to shoulder more of its defense.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte tried to curry favor with US President Donald Trump. All the other major member states also more or less courted Trump in 2025. He receives them at the White House with much fanfare,

The president said he had exchanged “pretty strong words” with European leaders, while Russia signaled it saw itself as increasingly on the same page as the U.S.

European leaders have proposed creating a multinational force to guarantee Ukraine's security once a ceasefire with Russia is in place.

European officials are growing concerned that an emerging US-brokered peace deal in Ukraine could be exploited by Russia, paving the way for a re-invasion of territory in the war-battered nation’s eastern Donbas region.

At least two people were killed in a drone attack in Russia’s southwestern Saratov region and parts of Ukraine went without power following targeted assaults on energy infrastructure, local authorities said Saturday,