Jens Stoltenberg

The EU's top diplomat warned Thursday that a "weaker" Russian President Vladimir Putin would pose a "greater danger" after Wagner's aborted mutiny sparked the largest political crisis in decades in the nuclear-armed country.

"A weaker Putin is a greater danger. So we have to be very much aware of the consequences," Josep Borrell said ahead of a gathering of EU leaders in Brussels.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will be key figures at Thursday's European Union summit, underscoring the importance the 27 EU leaders attach to protecting their eastern flank from Russian aggression and beefing up Ukraine's defense capabilities.

Belarus welcomed the head of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin into exile on Tuesday following an aborted rebellion, as NATO warned it was ready to defend against "Moscow or Minsk".

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a restaurant in eastern Ukraine rose to eight on Wednesday, as Kiev played down the effect of a brief mutiny by the head of the Wagner mercenary group on the conflict.

Sweden must no longer allow the demonstrations and activities by the PKK terror organization's members and sympathizers on its soils if it wants to join NATO, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has told the NATO chief with just weeks left to go to the critical alliance summit in Vilnius.

Türkiye's top defense official held separate talks on June 16 with his Dutch and U.S. counterparts on the sidelines of a NATO meeting, the Turkish National Defense Ministry announced. 

Day 478 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

"Our government will continue to provide valuable practical support to Ukraine as long as it is needed." This was stated by Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev during the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission yesterday, June 15. According to him, NATO should go beyond the Bucharest decisions and promote relations with Ukraine at a higher strategic level.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made clear once again that NATO-aspirant Sweden has to take concrete steps to join the alliance and stop the activities of the terrorists in the streets of Stockholm, underlining that the Nordic country will unlikely be admitted to NATO at the alliance's key summit in Vilnius in July.

However, ahead of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, which begins on July 11, where confronting Russia will be high on the agenda, Sir Richard Shirreff, the former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said NATO was not ready for war with Moscow.