UNITED24 Media Telegram Highlights
🇪🇺 The EU has presented a plan to prepare for a potential war with Russia by 2030, Bloomberg reports.
The plan includes defense reforms to support joint production of weapons and drones. The EU also aims to spend 40% of its total defense procurement by 2027—double the previous level.
The initiative is expected to launch in 2026.
❗️After the Ramstein meeting, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that 19 countries are ready to provide new military aid to Ukraine.
“We had 19 countries that spoke out, and all of them announced supplies for Ukraine — within the PURL framework and other initiatives, but also in many cases on a bilateral basis,” Rutte noted.
He emphasized that NATO considers support for Ukraine its top priority and that allies must strengthen the country with weapons to resist Russian aggression. [yesterday it was said that military aid for Ukraine is currently at a very low level]
Ukraine has intelligence on the Russian Federation’s plans to further use Belarusian territory for military purposes. We will alert partners who could be at risk, President Zelenskyy said after meeting with the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Oleh Ivashchenko.
🇺🇳 Most NATO members have joined the PURL initiative, which provides U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine, while those still on the sidelines are under growing pressure, Politico reports.
According to NATO officials, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands have pledged $2 billion across four PURL packages. On Wednesday, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Finland were prepared to agree on a fifth package.
This level of support, the publication notes, leaves non-contributors such as Britain and France in an increasingly difficult position.
Britain and Canada plan to join an EU initiative to use part of Russia's frozen assets, estimated at $300 billion, Bloomberg reports.
Western officials said the partners are close to an agreement to provide loans to Ukraine through a mechanism that avoids full seizure of the assets. The funds will be used to buy weapons, including American-made arms, and to support Ukraine’s economy.
❗️Pete Hegseth warns Russia of consequences if there’s no progress toward peace in Ukraine
The 100-year partnership agreement between Ukraine and Britain has officially entered into force, Speaker of the Rada Stefanchuk announced after completing the necessary procedures in London.
He emphasized that Ukraine and Britain already have long-standing, deep cooperation, and the agreement strengthens this partnership rather than initiating it.
🤝 Ukraine and Northern European countries have launched the Scandinavian-Baltic Initiative to train and equip the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On the sidelines of the 31st UDCG meeting, Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal and his Norwegian counterpart Tore Sandvik signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
The initiative brings together Ukraine and nine Nordic and Baltic countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Sweden.
Implemented within the framework of Operation Legion, the initiative provides for:
▫️ training of partners by Ukrainian military instructors;
▫️ equipping units with brigade-level weaponry;
▫️ training on Polish territory;
▫️ strengthening defense cooperation with the region.
The British and German defense ministers said at a press conference at NATO headquarters that Ukraine is a “contributor” to European security and deserves a place in the Alliance.
“There is growing recognition of Ukraine’s importance and its role in training NATO military personnel,” said British Defense Minister John Healy.
The Russians are no longer even hiding their war crimes—they released a video showing a drone strike on UN humanitarian trucks in the Kherson region. https://t.me/United24media/36310
Russia launched over 300 drones and 37 missiles at Ukraine overnight, Zelenskyy said.
Infrastructure in the Vinnytsia, Sumy, and Poltava regions was targeted. In the Chernihiv region, Nizhyn was hit, injuring one person. Critical infrastructure and parts of the State Emergency Service were struck in the Kharkiv region, with several injuries reported.
🇫🇮 Finland has built 50,000 bunkers—enough to shelter nearly the entire population, Bild reports.
After the Winter War of 1939–1940, the country continued building shelters and now has about 50,500, capable of accommodating 4.8 million of Finland’s 5.5 million residents.
For comparison, Germany has only around 480,000 shelters—one for every 174 people.
Located 20 meters underground, many Finnish bunkers are fully equipped. One in Helsinki even includes a gym, playground, hockey arena, and parking lot.
What’s missing, according to caretaker Tomi Raski, are food stores—since each resident must bring their own 72-hour supply of food, a flashlight, sleeping bag, camping mat, books, paper, and a pen.
“Down here, it’s really all about survival,” Raski said.
The UK has imposed sanctions on Lukoil, Rosneft, several Russian banks, 51 tankers of the “shadow fleet,” and oil refineries in India and the UAE.
In total, 35 companies and five individuals have been hit by restrictions. This includes India’s Nayara Energy, partly owned by Rosneft, and China’s National Pipeline Group Beihai LNG, which received gas from the sanctioned Russian project Arctic LNG-2.
Rosneft’s foreign partners—Novus Energy DMCC, Wissol Commodities FZCO, and Alghaf Marine DMCC in the UAE—have also been sanctioned for transporting and trading Russian oil.
Several Russian banks and technology companies were added to the sanctions list, including the National Payment Card System (NPK), BBR Bank, Solid Bank, Transstroybank, and Primsotsbank.
Sanctions also target Russian and foreign companies supplying components and equipment for weapons production: NPK Progress, Pergam-Engineering, Electra Pro, Charteris DV, Maxcomm, Absolute Trade, Lmsystems, ARS Global, INOI International, LMM Electronics (UAE), S-Mikron Elektronik (Türkiye), ALT Capital (Singapore), and China Thai Corporation Group (Thailand).
The UK also sanctioned several Chinese and Hong Kong firms, particularly in the energy sector.