Europe

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO leaders gathered Wednesday to launch a highly symbolic new forum for ties with Ukraine, after committing to provide the country with more military assistance for fighting Russia but only vague assurances of future membership.

U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the new NATO-Ukraine Council, a permanent body where the 31 allies and Ukraine can hold consultations and call for meetings in emergency situations.

11 July 2023; MEMO: A new bill introduced by the UK government, which is designed to shield Israel from boycotts, will have damaging consequences for the UK if the legislation went ahead in its current form, Number 10 was warned in a special legal advice.

Britain will not only find itself in breach of its international commitments, the advice warned, efforts to grant Israel special protection will also give Russia "ammunition" to accuse the UK of hypocrisy.

11 July 2023; MEMO: A new investigation by the Guardian and others has found that attempts by the Greek coastguard in June to tow a boat carrying roughly 750 refugees which capsized leaving only 104 survivors may have caused the vessel to sink.

Most of the passengers were from Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Pakistan. Nine of the survivors have been arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and migrant smuggling and have denied the charges.

MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/: Kiev hyped up its counteroffensive so much that many countries expected to see substantial results by the start of the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.

"I think they have touted and hyped up this counteroffensive issue so much that practically, if not half the world, then a third of it for sure, was waiting for the 11th to take stock of some results such as what was achieved by this widely touted and anticipated thing they called a ‘strategic’ counteroffensive," he said.

MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/: The supply of cluster munitions by the Americans to Kiev will prolong the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told reporters on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/: The inflation level in Russia is currently among the lowest across the world, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Tuesday at the meeting on economic issues.

"Inflation remains moderate. It stood at 2.9% from January to early July, which is much lower than last-year values," Mishustin said. Inflation in annual terms is not above 3.5%, he noted.

"This is among the lowest indicators globally at present," the prime minister stressed.

VILNIUS, July 11. /TASS/: NATO countries have adopted a long-term program of military assistance to Ukraine and agreed to set up the Ukraine-NATO Council, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

"Today, Allies have agreed a package of three elements to bring Ukraine closer to NATO," he told a news conference on the results of the summit’s first day.

COPENHAGEN/OSLO, July 11 (Reuters) - A volcanic eruption in Iceland close to the capital Reykjavik is slowing and gas pollution is easing, experts said, but residents should still keep clear of the volcano which has been spewing out toxic gas.

The eruption has decreased considerably, the Icelandic Met Office, Vedur, said on Tuesday, adding people should keep out of the restricted eruption site.

VILNIUS, July 11 (Reuters) - NATO leaders agreed on Tuesday that Ukraine's future lies within the alliance but they stopped short of handing Kyiv the invitation or timetable for accession it sought, a stance that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had earlier criticised as "absurd".

The leaders met at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius as a Ukrainian counteroffensive against the Russian invasion forces occupying parts of the country was proceeding more slowly than Kyiv had hoped.

VILNIUS, July 11 (Reuters) - France will join Britain in supplying Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles, which can travel 250 km (155 miles), a move that allows Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supplies deep behind front lines, French officials said on Tuesday.

Emmanuel Macron said he had decided to boost military aid to Ukraine to help its counteroffensive as the French President arrived at a summit of the 31-member NATO alliance in Lithuania.