Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed willingness to drop Ukraine's NATO aspirations in exchange for Western security guarantees. But he rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia.

The Baltic states jointly announced new fortifications on their borders with Russia nearly two years ago.

Europe is quietly shifting from words to wartime preparation as fears of a direct clash with Russia intensify. Conscription is returning, Cold War bunkers are reopening, and NATO is drafting plans that would move hundreds of thousands of troops east in days,

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Sunday that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's remarks about preparing for war with Russia were irresponsible and showed that he did not really understand the devastation wrought by World War Two.

Former Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said after the Ukraine war, Europe must be ready for further Russian aggression.

Secretary-General Mark Rutte chastised some allies for moving too slowly when it comes to ramping up defense spending.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned Thursday that members of the alliance could be “Russia’s next target,” calling for a rapid rise in defense spending to prevent a war similar to those seen by past generations.

Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Richard Knighton will warn the situation is ‘more dangerous than I have known during my career’.

As Georgia balances its aspirations to join NATO against mounting pressure from the Russian Federation, a new security partnership is taking shape in the South Caucasus.

A British naval supply ship with an on-board helicopter was deployed to track the stealthy Kilo-class submarine Krasnodar, the Royal Navy said.

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