Hours before Vance and Zelenskyy were set to meet, a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective confinement shell of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kyiv region, the Ukrainian president said. Radiation levels have not increased, Zelenskyy and the U.N. atomic agency said.

European NATO members are aiming to demonstrate to the Trump administration the full scope of their financial support for Ukraine as they’re set to meet the new US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth.

US Secretaru of Defense Pete Hegseth’s purpose of visiting Brussels was to work with NATO allies and partners to discuss boosting “Allied defense spending, increase European leadership

Hegseth urged NATO allies to bolster their defense spending from 2% to 5% of their GDP, noting that the U.S. is attempting to "revive the warrior ethos" as well.

NATO members in Europe should bear more of the costs of collective defense, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday, echoing President Donald Trump’s call for allies to spend 5% of their GDP on defense while sidestepping suggestions that the US should hit the same target.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday warned NATO allies in Europe against assuming that the American troop presence on the continent would "last forever", as he urged them to spend more on defence.