After meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the last day of a NATO conference in Washington, Joe Biden announced that Ukraine would get an additional $225 million in US military aid. DW has the most recent.

UK PM Starmer urges NATO partners to increase the defense budget

On Thursday, Keir Starmer, the newly appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom, called on other NATO members to do more to boost defense budgets, citing the need to preserve the alliance’s principles in “a new and dangerous era.”.

After winning the UK prime ministership last week, Starmer made his first appearance on the international scene with his speech at the NATO meeting.

Currently, 23 of the alliance’s 32 members spend 2% of their GDP on defense, he noted, “but in light of the grave threats to our security, we must go further.”.

The leader of the Labour Party restated his government’s commitment to developing a strategy to spend 2.5% of GDP on defense. Starmer hasn’t yet provided a schedule for it.

Russia poses a generational threat to us, with help from countries like North Korea and Iran. The core of the reaction should be addressed to the conflicts raging throughout the Middle East and North Africa, China’s challenge, terrorism, and international institutions, but these are all being eroded,” the speaker stated.

Scholz is ‘confident’ that France can resolve the impasse in the elections and continue to be the hub of NATO

Following statewide elections earlier this month, beleaguered French President Emmanuel Macron is facing challenges in forming a coalition government. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated on Thursday that France continues to be a vital ally.

In France’s second round of parliamentary elections, no single party emerged victorious, but the New Popular Front (NFP), a left-wing alliance, secured the most seats (193) in the National Assembly’s 577 members.

The far-right National Rally (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, was denied a majority, and Scholz (SDP) expressed his joy at this development, saying, “It’s now the task of the politicians to find a solution and to make something out of it.” I have a lot of faith that they eventually will.”

The impasse in France has prompted concerns about Macron’s ability to maintain France’s leadership position in both the European Union and NATO.

In response, Scholz declared, “France has a president who is a force to be reckoned with on the international scene. I had a great conversation with my friend Emmanuel Macron yesterday, so I’m not worried about what may occur.

NATO and South Korea complete aviation certification

The South Korean presidential office reports that NATO and South Korea have agreed to certify the airworthiness of military aircraft built in South Korea.

Following their meeting on Thursday, President Yoon Suk Yeol and NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg released a statement.

Greetings on the certification, Yoon stated that it would guarantee “mutual military compatibility.”

On the fringes of the NATO summit on Thursday, South Korea and the US signed an integrated nuclear deterrent for the Korean peninsula.

Yoon’s deputy national security adviser, Kim Tae-hyo, told the Washington media that the directive, which was approved by the leaders of the two countries, formalizes the deployment of US nuclear resources in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula to obstruct and counteract any nuclear threats from North Korea.

“It indicates that US nuclear weapons are allocated to operations on the Korean Peninsula specifically,” Kim stated.

Yoon and US President Joe Biden jointly released a statement earlier in the day, reiterating their tight coordination in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear threat.

To end the session, Biden said he “will not walk away from Ukraine.”

After a three-day summit in Washington, the leaders of NATO vowed to defend Ukraine.

During the summit, the 32-nation coalition demonstrated its will to oppose Russia, which has been invading its neighbor for the past 2.5 years.

“I refuse to abandon Ukraine. In his concluding remarks at the meeting, US President Joe Biden vowed to “keep NATO strong.” “That’s exactly what we did and exactly what we’ll continue to do now.”

In contrast to remarks made by his predecessor, Donald Trump, who “made it clear he has no commitment to NATO,” Biden compared his dedication to NATO. Regarding the alliance’s dedication to collective defense, Biden declared, “He has explicitly stated that he would not feel obligated to uphold Article 5.”

On the third and last day of the conference, the US president met with his counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and other leaders of NATO, promising to provide additional air defenses to help safeguard the war-torn nation.