World
Kallas pitches plan to raise €40 billion in military aid for Ukraine
The new initiative by Kaja Kallas is facing unresolved questions and political resistance that threaten to slow down its approval and roll-out.
High Representative Kaja Kallas has pitched an ambitious plan to mobilise up to €40 billion in fresh military support for Ukraine, which, if achieved, would represent a twofold increase from the defence assistance the European Union provided last year.
The plan, already nicknamed “the Kallas initiative” in Brussels, seeks to fulfill Ukraine’s priority needs to fight Russia’s war of aggression, with special emphasis on artillery ammunition, air defence systems, missiles, drones and fighter jets.
Non-lethal provisions, such as training and equipment for Ukrainian brigades, will also be taken into account to ensure the participation of neutral member states.
The donations can be made through direct deliveries of hardware or financial contributions, ideally designed to foster purchases from Ukraine’s defence industry, which has expanded at a rapid pace in the last three years.
Kallas says the initiative should be worth “at least €20 billion” and “potentially” reach €40 billion, according to the latest version of the document dated 13 March and seen by Euronews. A previous draft did not feature a clear-cut economic figure.
The wording of the plan is noteworthy.
It speaks of “participating” countries, which implies a shift towards a coalition of the willing that might – or might not – correspond with the 27 member states.
Hungary has become a vocal critic of military assistance for Ukraine, going as far as blocking the joint conclusions of a special summit last week. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has described this assistance as a “pro-war” agenda that goes against Donald Trump’s goal to achieve a settlement between the warring parties. (Orbán has refused to say whether Vladimir Putin has a pro-war or a pro-peace agenda.)
For almost two years, Hungary has maintained a veto on €6.6 billion in funds under the European Peace Facility (EPF), which is meant to partially reimburse member states for the weapons and ammunition they send to Ukraine. Diplomats have tried several avenues to circumvent Budapest and release the EPF, but nothing has worked yet.
Kallas seems keen to avoid the same mistake and is framing her new initiative as a voluntary scheme that could evade Hungary’s negative vote. Slovakia, another staunch critic of military assistance for Kyiv, might also stand in the way.
The latest draft says “participating states are encouraged” to come up with fresh contributions, a language that falls short of mandatory. The pledges should be communicated to Brussels by 30 April.
Additionally, Kallas is opening the coalition to countries outside the bloc, such as the United Kingdom and Norway, who have become closely involved in the ongoing discussions around security guarantees for Ukraine. Earlier this month, Norway boosted its 2025 pledge to NOK 50 billion, equivalent to a whopping €8.19 billion.
“The Kallas initiative is open to third states,” a high-ranking EU official confirmed on Friday. “The more countries participate, the better it is to also fulfill Ukraine’s needs to be in a strong position in the trajectory ahead.”
Unresolved questions
The Kallas plan has been the subject of debate for several weeks in Brussels.
It is set to be re-discussed on Monday during a meeting of foreign affairs ministers and again on Thursday during a summit of EU leaders. The need to ramp up support for Ukraine has become pressing in response to the Trump administration’s pivot towards Moscow and increasingly critical rhetoric against European allies.
The High Representative wants to receive the political go-ahead from member states before turning her three-page document into a more detailed project.
“First a political will, and then the rest will follow,” said the high-ranking official.
However, no agreement is expected to materalise in either of those two meetings due to a series of unresolved technical and political questions.
Kallas has proposed that a “portion” of the military contribution be done “in line” with each country’s “economic weight,” using gross national income (GNI) as the chief indicator to ensure the largest countries provide the largest donations.
France, for example, is believed to resist this formula because it would make the country commit to a hefty figure for the entire year, second only to Germany. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, France ranks below Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, much smaller countries, when it comes to military support.
Paris is said to prefer basing its provisions on its financial cycles and Ukraine’s shifting needs on the ground. But for other governments, GNI is the most appropriate indicator as it would ensure a fair and proportionate distribution of the burden.
“We’re very much in favour of the plan, including GNI,” said a senior diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Let’s see if it’s accepted by other member states.”
“The plan is trying to chart a new way forward, but a lot of discussion needs to take place” before a final deal, the diplomat added.
Another issue that the capitals want to clarify is the accounting: how pledges made in recent months will be considered in the collective figure. (The latest draft speaks of support “provided in kind since 24 February 2025,” the war’s third anniversary.)
The accounting process might incorporate the value of security guarantees provided to Ukraine. This could benefit France as President Emmanuel Macron has said he would be willing to put boots on the ground to safeguard a potential deal with Russia.
Countries are also pushing for answers on how the Kallas initiative will integrate the €18 billion that the EU will supply Kyiv as part of an extraordinary loan backed by the windfall profits of Russia’s frozen assets. The European Commission, which designed the loan, has promised “maximum flexibility” to let Ukraine use the much-needed injection of liquidity to procure advanced weapons and ammunition.
There is an additional question on how effective the plan will be in practice if, from the beginning, it is built as a voluntary scheme without a strong legal foundation.
“It’s done on a voluntary basis to bypass Hungary,” said a senior diplomat from another country. “We do expect the rest to join forces and put our money where our mouth is.”
“It’s a politically binding agreement, so we expect everybody to fulfill that.”
Alice Tidey contributed reporting.
World
Minnesota braces for what’s next amid immigration arrests and in the wake of Renee Good shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman by an immigration officer, Minnesota’s Twin Cities on Sunday braced for what many expect will be a new normal over the next few weeks as the Department of Homeland Security carries out what it called its largest enforcement operation ever.
Protesters screamed at heavily-armed federal agents and honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt their operations in one Minneapolis neighborhood filled with single-family homes.
There was some pushing and several people were hit with chemical spray just before agents banged down the door of one home on Sunday. They later took one man away in handcuffs.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners in the neighborhood where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed Wednesday, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but the Twin Cities remained anxious. Minneapolis public schools on Monday will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said on Sunday that the investigation into Good’s shooting death shouldn’t be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened,” Smith said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
“That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn’t be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests across the country over the weekend.
Thousands of people marched Saturday in Minneapolis, where Homeland Security called its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation.
___
Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis, Thomas Strong in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
World
Netanyahu and Rubio discuss US military intervention in Iran amid ongoing nationwide protests: report
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of U.S. intervention in Iran, according to a report.
The two leaders spoke by phone Saturday as Israel is on “high alert,” preparing for the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Iran, according to Reuters, citing multiple Israeli sources. A U.S. official confirmed the call to Fox News Digital but did not provide additional details.
The report comes as nationwide anti-regime demonstrations across Iran hit the two-week mark.
On Saturday, the Iranian regime triggered an internet “kill switch” in an apparent effort to conceal alleged abuses by security forces and as protests against it surged nationwide, according to a cybersecurity expert. The blackout reduced internet access to a fraction of normal levels.
KEANE WARNS IRANIAN REGIME TO TAKE TRUMP ‘DEAD SERIOUS’ ON PROTEST KILLING THREAT AMID ONGOING DEMONSTRATIONS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio holds his end-of-year press conference at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2025. (Kevin Mohatt/Reuters)
On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker warned that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf issued the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting, “Death to America!” according to The Associated Press.
President Donald Trump offered support for the protesters on Saturday, writing on Truth Social that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
IRANIAN MILITARY LEADER THREATENS PREEMPTIVE ATTACK AFTER TRUMP COMMENTS
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran’s Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
At a news conference Friday, Trump said Iran was facing mounting pressure as unrest spreads across the country.
“Iran’s in big trouble,” he said. “It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago. We’re watching the situation very carefully.”
The president said the U.S. would respond forcefully if the regime resorts to mass violence.
“We’ll be hitting them very hard where it hurts. And that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts,” he said.
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Protests in Iran intensify for the 12th day. (The National Council of Resistance of Iran)
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department and White House for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Bussey, Brie Stimson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
World
Four killed, 20 injured in overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine
Published on
Russia fired more than 150 drones overnight into Sunday targeting close to two dozen locations across Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 20 more.
Ukraine’s Air Forces say they intercepted 125 drones aerially but confirmed that at least 25 strike drones struck their targets.
They added that Moscow’s latest barrage mainly targeted Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk, all of which were targeted in Saturday’s overnight strikes as well.
Local officials in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia say the strikes targeted residential areas and energy infrastructure. More than 385,000 homes were affected by electric, gas or water outages, at a critical time as temperatures plunged to 10 degrees below Celsius.
Regional lawmakers say service was restored to most of the affected households and areas by Sunday morning, but added that emergency work was still being carried out to restore power to the remaining homes.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of timing their attacks with the cold peaks of winter as to maximise civilian suffering.
“They struck targets that have no military purpose whatsoever – energy infrastructure, residential buildings. They deliberately waited for freezing weather to make things worse for our people. This is deliberate, cynical Russian terror specifically against civilians,” wrote Zelenskyy in a post on X.
He also noted that this week had seen heightened Russian assault on Ukrainian cities, announcing that his country’s defence forces recorded thousands of attacks using a variety of different weapons.
“Over the course of this week, Russia launched almost 1,100 attack drones against Ukraine, more than 890 guided aerial bombs, and over 50 missiles of various types – ballistic, cruise, and even the Oreshnik medium-range ballistic missile.”
The Ukrainian leader thanked all units responsible for protecting the country and responding to attacks, and praised their tireless efforts and resilience.
He also called on allies to ensure his embattled country maintains “stable support”, in defence and diplomatic fields as coordinated dialogue efforts continue in search of peace.
Meanwhile, Russia says that one person was killed in Ukrainian strikes on the western city of Voronezh. Officials say a young woman succumbed to her wounds at an intensive care unit of a local hospital after debris from a drone fell on her house during Saturday’s attacks.
They added that at least three others were injured in the attacks which targeted more than 10 residential apartment buildings, private homes and a high school.
The city of Voronezh lies just 250 kilometres from the Ukrainian border and is home to approximately one million people. The attacks, which Kyiv have yet to confirm, came after the Kremlin’s major offensive on Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday.
Additional sources • AP
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