EU and Nato sign new cooperation agreement

Bloomberg

The European Union and Nato further solidified their relationship Tuesday when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg signed a new joint declaration of cooperation.
A top Biden administration official said a deal struck by the new Republican House majority to cap 2024 spending would not imperil aid to Ukraine that was part of a government funding bill enacted in December.
Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, told reporters in Brussels that the bloc plans further sanctions against countries like Belarus and Iran “who militarily support Russia’s war.”
The agreement “recognizes the value of a more capable European defense that contributes positively to our security and is complementary to and interoperable with Nato,” Stoltenberg said.
The leaders said the EU and Nato were determined to work more closely together on issues including resilience, protecting critical infrastructures, space and the security impact of climate change.
The UK government is considering sending Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, a move that would mark the first time a Western country would provide Ukraine with Nato-standard main battle tanks to fight Russian forces.
Ukrainian forces repelled attacks near 13 settlements in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions over the past day, including Soledar, the General Staff said in its morning update on Facebook. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that the Russian military began an assault on Soledar after suffering heavy losses in a previously unsuccessful attempt to capture it. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address that the resilience of the Ukrainian troops in the city allowed his country to gain additional time, noting that withstanding attacks there is “extremely difficult” as “there are almost no whole walls left.”