Nato's German-Netherlands Corps will take on the role of a tactical headquarters for Estonia and Latvia within the defence alliance's plans around mid-year, Germany's defence ministry said on Thursday.

"The deployment of an additional tactical headquarters to the region strengthens the cohesion of Nato and supports the deterrence of Russia," the ministry said in a statement.

Citing sources, Reuters news agency reported this week that Nato would strengthen the defence of its eastern flank with a new structure to facilitate the rapid deployment of forces in Latvia and Estonia in the event of a war with Russia.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said that the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas' remarks about the need to limit Russia's armed forces were "idiotic."

Discussing peace talks in a press conference earlier, Ms Kallas said: “If Ukraine is required to make concessions on limiting its military capabilities, this should also be mirrored by Russia if it is part of the agreement.”

She also warned that the bloc should not fall into a Russian trap discussing who would represent Europe in possible future talks and that negotiations are a team effort.

"I find that ​it's ⁠a trap ‌that Russia wants us to walk into, that ‌we discuss who talks ‌to them when they're already picking who is ⁠suitable or who is not," Kallas said when arriving for an informal gathering of European foreign ministers in Cyprus today.

"Let's not walk into that trap. Negotiations is always a team effort," she said, adding "that's why the substance is much more important than who".

Ukraine's parliament has ratified on Thursday a €90 billion (£77bn) loan agreement with the European Union with 298 votes, well ahead of the 226 votes required for a majority.

The financial aid, intended to bolster Kyiv's defence against Russia, faced opposition from outgoing Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban before his electoral defeat last month.

The EU is set to offer interest-free loans for 2026-2027, funded by its borrowing on capital markets and underpinned by the EU budget headroom.

Ukraine is not expected to pay the money back from its own funds, with the capital only due for repayment once Russia pays war reparations after the conflict is over.

Russia has central bank assets that are frozen in the EU which are worth around €210 billion and which could be used for the repayment.

The scheme was designed to effectively make use of the frozen Russian funds to help Ukraine without confiscating the money, a step that had been rejected as legally risky.

The €90 billion is to cover two-thirds of Ukraine's needs for the next two years, estimated at €135 billion in total. Of the total, Ukraine will get €45 billion in 2026 and another €45 billion in 2027.

Ukraine is preparing a "major defence package" with Sweden and a "strong step" on Gripen fighter jets, president Volodymyr Zelensky said as he arrived to Sweden.

“I am in Sweden today on a working visit,” he wrote on X.

“We are preparing a major defense package for Ukraine and a strong step regarding Gripen fighter jets, which will definitely make our combat aviation more effective.”

Mr Zelensky said on Telegram that he will meet prime minister Ulf Kristersson and representatives of the Swedish defence industry.

“Thank you, @SwedishPM, for ensuring that our relations – between Ukraine and Sweden – are always substantive, and that our cooperation is strong,” he added.

Ukraine faces a critical six-month window to seize the battlefield initiative from Russia and strengthen its position for potential peace negotiations, a senior commander has said, predicting an imminent "turning point" in the conflict now in its fifth year.

Russian forces have made incremental gains since their full-scale invasion in February 2022, but their advances have slowed this year. Ukrainian troops are now intensifying pressure on the frontline in an effort to push back the invaders.

Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, who commands Ukraine's Third Army Corps – one of the nation's most respected fighting formations – told Reuters in an interview that he believes Russia's military is exhausted and incapable of achieving significant breakthroughs.

Should Ukraine's military successfully build and sustain momentum over the coming months, it could gain the upper hand along the frontline, compelling Russia to abandon its ambitions for the last remaining part of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine that it does not yet occupy, he explained.

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Volodymyr Zelensky is in Sweden on Thursday, local news agency TT and public broadcaster SVT reported, citing sources.

Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson said the Ukrainian president will present news involving aircraft - we’ll bring you the latest lines here.

Russia’s spy chief has accused Nato of preparing for a conflict in the east, according to Moscow’s state news agency RIA.

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR foreign intelligence service, on Thursday said Nato was making practical preparations for what he called a "large-scale conflict in the east”.

Naryshkin was also cited as saying that the European Union was rapidly arming itself and turning into a military alliance "directed against Russia."

The US embassy in Kyiv will remain open, it confirmed on Thursday, days after Russia called on diplomats to leave the city ahead of planned strikes.

"The US Embassy is open. There are no changes to our operations and reports otherwise are false," the embassy said in a post on X.

Several EU states have summoned their Russian ambassadors over Moscow's threat.