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NATO's future
US reportedly skipping NATO meeting – for the second time in a row

When NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels in two weeks, US Pete Hegseth is expected to stay home, two sources told Reuters.

It would be the second time in a row that the US has skipped a NATO summit – Secretary of State Macro Rubio did not attend the foreign ministers' meeting in December.

The sources, a US official and a NATO diplomat, do not state why Hegseth plans not to go.

Before Donald Trump took power in the US, it was very unusual for US representatives to skip NATO meetings. Over the past year, the administration has repeatedly stressed that Europe must take more responsibility for NATO.

Russian invasion  Negotiations
Germany and Luxembourg are against Zelensky's EU plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants the country to be allowed into the EU next year. That plan is now being shot down by Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel.

"I have told him several times not to give any ultimatums," he says, emphasizing that the Union must comply with the rules before a new country becomes a member.

On Tuesday, Zelensky wrote on X that EU membership is one of the most important security guarantees for Ukraine. According to him, talks are underway with European allies about membership in 2027.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says that it is unreasonable.

"Membership on January 1, 2027 is out of the question. It is not possible," he says, according to the DPA news agency.