标签： Europe

In the final stretch of a high-stakes joint military exercise focused on nuclear capabilities, heavy military convoys transporting intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) rolled through forested training grounds Thursday, as nuclear-powered submarines departed their Arctic and Pacific basins and combat aircrews scrambled to their alert positions across Russia and its western ally Belarus.

The three-day drill, which launched Tuesday, unfolds against a sharply escalated backdrop of long-range Ukrainian drone attacks deep into Russian territory. Recent strikes targeting Moscow’s outer suburbs have left three civilians dead and damaged multiple residential and industrial structures, eroding the Kremlin’s long-held narrative that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine — now stretching into its third year — remains a distant threat that does not disrupt ordinary Russian life.

During a visit to a Belarusian military unit participating in the exercise, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko personally inspected Russian-made Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, which are modified to carry nuclear warheads. “I dreamed about this machine a long time ago,” Lukashenko told reporters during the inspection.

Russian defense officials released detailed figures on the scale of the exercise: more than 64,000 military personnel, over 200 missile launch systems, more than 140 fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, 73 surface combat vessels, and 13 submarines, eight of which are outfitted with nuclear-armed ICBMs. According to the ministry, the core training objective of the drills is to practice “preparation and use of nuclear forces under the threat of aggression,” while also strengthening combined operational coordination between Russian and Belarusian military units. Belarus has served as a key Russian ally since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and currently hosts Russian nuclear weapons on its territory, including the advanced, nuclear-capable intermediate-range Oreshnik missile system.

This exercise marks the latest iteration of the Russian government’s public demonstration of its nuclear deterrent capabilities, a strategy that Russian President Vladimir Putin has leaned on repeatedly since ordering the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The core goal of this posture is to dissuade Western nations from expanding military support to Kyiv, particularly by restricting Ukraine’s access to longer-range strike weapons that can hit targets deep inside Russia.

Earlier this year, Putin signed off on a revised Russian nuclear doctrine that introduced a key new provision: any conventional attack on Russia backed by a nuclear-armed power will be treated as a combined attack on the Russian state. Analysts widely view this revision as a deliberate lowering of the threshold for potential Russian nuclear use, explicitly designed to deter Western nations from approving Ukrainian long-range strikes against Russian territory. The updated doctrine also extends the Russian nuclear umbrella to cover Belarus, with Putin confirming that while Moscow will maintain ultimate control over nuclear weapons deployed in the ally’s territory, Belarus would be allowed to participate in target selection in the event of armed conflict.

LONDON – Facing simmering internal party unrest and growing public frustration over soaring household expenses, the British government has rolled out a series of modest cost-cutting measures designed to ease cost-of-living strains and rebuild voter support, according to a recent announcement from top Treasury official Rachel Reeves. The targeted relief comes as inflation faces new upward pressure spurred by the Iran war, which has disrupted key global energy supply chains. Reeves outlined the package Thursday, noting that the policy package is crafted to shield families and businesses from unexpected price shocks while setting the foundation for long-term economic stability.

BRUSSELS – In a new proposal shared with top European Union leadership, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called on the 27-nation bloc to explore granting associate membership status to Ukraine, a move he argues will unlock progress toward a negotiated end to the more than four-year-long war with Russia, documents obtained by the Associated Press confirm. Merz’s proposal lands at a pivotal moment for the EU, as leaders weigh whether to launch an independent European negotiating channel with Russian President Vladimir Putin after U.S.-mediated peace efforts stalled, with Washington’s strategic focus shifted to escalating conflict in Iran.

Under the terms laid out by Merz, Ukraine would gain full access to participate in EU-level meetings and secure non-voting observer seats in both the European Commission, the bloc’s powerful executive arm, and the European Parliament. The German chancellor stressed that this framework is not a watered-down alternative to full membership, emphasizing it would go far beyond the existing Association Agreement that currently structures relations between Kyiv and Brussels. To guard against democratic erosion, Merz also proposed a snap-back mechanism that would reverse associate status if Ukraine fails to uphold required democratic governance standards. Crucially, Merz reaffirmed his support for the longstanding EU commitment to launch full official membership negotiations with Ukraine without delay, a position already restated by European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already signaled cautious optimism about the progress of accession talks, telling the public in a recent address that the development is “very important for us” and noting that Kyiv has completed all required reforms to move the process forward. The accession process requires candidate states to align their national legislation with EU standards across 35 distinct policy chapters, covering everything from judicial independence and rule of law to agricultural and fisheries regulation. Every chapter requires unanimous approval from all 27 EU member states to open, and again to close after alignment is complete. For months, Hungary served as the primary blocker to opening negotiations, but the recent swearing-in of a new Budapest administration has sparked widespread speculation that Budapest’s long-held opposition may soften.

Despite the momentum for expanding EU-Ukraine ties, Merz’s proposal faces resistance from many Brussels-based officials, who argue that full EU membership must remain a strictly merit-based process that only concludes once all reform benchmarks are fully met. Merz has also proposed extending the associate membership framework to other candidate states in the Western Balkans, a region that will be the focus of a major EU leaders’ summit scheduled for next month.

On the conflict itself, Merz argued that closer EU integration through associate membership will create the necessary political foundation to advance a negotiated peace agreement, writing that “this is essential not only for Ukraine’s but for the entire continent’s security.” For Ukraine, integration into Western institutional structures is viewed as a core long-term security guarantee. While full NATO membership remains Kyiv’s ultimate goal, the current U.S. administration has repeatedly ruled out NATO accession for Ukraine in the near term, and many other Western capitals remain wary of extending membership while active conflict continues.

With U.S.-led mediation efforts stalled, EU capitals have increasingly debated the need for a parallel European-led negotiating track, and begun floating potential candidates to serve as EU mediators in the event Putin agrees to direct talks. Earlier this month, Costa confirmed the bloc’s growing interest in an independent European role, saying “we need, in the right moment, to have talks with Russia to address our common issues on security,” adding that this channel would not interfere with ongoing U.S.-led efforts but is necessary to advance Europe’s own core security priorities.

European media has been rife with speculation over potential mediators, with names including former German Chancellor Angela Merkel – a fluent Russian speaker with long-standing personal ties to Putin – and former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi emerging as leading contenders. Putin himself has suggested he would be open to talks with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, but the proposal has been widely rejected even in Berlin. Schröder’s close personal and business ties to Russian state energy firms, and his longstanding friendly relationship with Putin, have destroyed his domestic political credibility since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas recently noted that allowing Putin to handpick the European negotiator “would not be very wise,” particularly given Schröder’s role as a “high-level lobbyist for Russian state-owned companies.”

For his part, Zelenskyy has welcomed European involvement in the peace process, saying over the weekend that “Europe must be involved in the negotiations. It is important for Europe to have a strong voice and presence in this process, and it is worth determining who will represent Europe specifically.”

Reporting for this article was contributed by Moulson in Berlin and Susie Blann in Kyiv.

LONDON – The British government is scheduled to declassify and publish a set of confidential documents Wednesday detailing the appointment and tenure of King Charles III’s brother, the former Prince Andrew, now legally named Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as the UK’s international trade envoy. This long-awaited release comes just months after a cross-party group of UK lawmakers accused Andrew of prioritizing his controversial personal friendship with disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein over national interests.

The push for full transparency began back in February, when parliament overwhelmingly approved a formal motion demanding the documents be made public. The vote followed a major development: Andrew was arrested on charges alleging that he shared sensitive government trade reports with Epstein during his time in the unpaid official role. The calls for publication gained even more urgency after the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed millions of pages of previously sealed court records tied to the Epstein case, which laid bare the disgraced financier’s extensive network of high-profile connections across the globe.

Those released U.S. documents detailed how Epstein leveraged his web of wealthy, powerful friends to accumulate influence and carry out a years-long pattern of sexual exploitation targeting young women and underage girls. Nowhere has the wave of revelations from the Epstein files caused more upheaval than in the UK, where the scandal has opened up fierce new debates about power, accountability and unregulated influence within the country’s so-called Establishment – the interconnected group of aristocratic elites, senior politicians and high-profile business leaders that have long shaped British public life.

During a heated parliamentary debate held to examine Andrew’s long-documented ties to Epstein, ministers and backbench lawmakers from across the political spectrum united to demand greater transparency and accountability from the British royal household. Trade Minister Chris Bryant was among the most vocal critics, arguing that Andrew engaged in a relentless pattern of self-serving behavior throughout his decade as a working royal. “Andrew was a rude, arrogant and entitled man who could not distinguish between the public interest he claimed to serve and his own private interest,” Bryant stated during the debate, adding that the former prince’s time in office was defined by a constant “self-enriching hustle.”

Andrew has already faced significant consequences for his ties to the scandal: he was stripped of all his honorary royal titles and public roles last year, as King Charles III moved quickly to distance the monarchy from the growing controversy surrounding the former prince. This is not the first time Andrew’s ties to controversial figures have cut short his public service: he originally held the post of special trade envoy from 2001 to 2011, when he was forced to step down over widespread concerns about his questionable links to autocratic figures in Libya and Azerbaijan.