Europe

KYIV, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has often astonished the world with his trips to the battlefield but his visit to Washington to press for military aid has delivered the biggest surprise of the 10 months since Russia invaded his country.

"On my way to the United States to strengthen resilience and defence capabilities of Ukraine," Zelenskiy said on his Twitter account early on Wednesday.

BERLIN, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Berlin has sent its first batch of BioNTech (22UAy.DE) COVID-19 vaccines to China to be administered initially to German expatriates, a German government spokesperson said on Wednesday, the first foreign coronavirus vaccine to be delivered to the country.

No other details were available on the timing and size of the delivery, although the spokesperson said Berlin is pushing for foreigners other than German citizens to be allowed access to the shot if they want it.

Dec 21 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the Russian army must learn from and fix the problems it had suffered in Ukraine, promising to give the military whatever it needed to prosecute a war nearing the end of its 10th month.

In a speech to defence chiefs in Moscow, Putin said there were no financial limits on what the government would provide in terms of equipment and hardware.

"We have no funding restrictions. The country and the government are providing everything that the army asks for," he said.

KIEV, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's Economy Ministry will focus on supporting business and developing export opportunities in 2023, the government press service reported on Tuesday.

Next year, the ministry will strive to increase the volume of business assistance programs by implementing effective mechanisms to support economic activities, said a statement on the country's government website.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Kremlin warned Wednesday that increasing the supply of U.S. arms to Kyiv would aggravate the devastating 10-month war ignited by Russia’s illegal invasion and “does not bode well” for embattled Ukraine.

“Weapon supplies (by the U.S.) continue, the assortment of supplied weapons is expanding. All this, of course, leads to an aggravation of the conflict and, in fact, does not bode well for Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

20 Dec 2022; MEMO: NATO on Tuesday called for resolving differences between Turkiye and Greece through diplomatic means, reports Anadolu Agency.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency after Greek aircraft tried to interfere in a NATO training mission over the Aegean Sea, a NATO official said that Turkiye and Greece are valuable allies and work together as part of NATO.

MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/: A batch of advanced T-90M ‘Proryv’ (‘Breakthrough’) main battle tanks has arrived for an armored unit of the Central Military District in the Ukraine special military operation zone, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, December 20. /TASS/: All the participants of Russia’s special military operation are heroes who are on the cutting edge of solving the most difficult and dangerous tasks, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a state awards ceremony at the Kremlin on Tuesday.

"Our servicemen and soldiers, deployed in the special military operation zone, are undoubtedly on the cutting edge of solving the most difficult, responsible and dangerous tasks. <...> I sincerely believe that they are all heroes," the head of state said.

LONDON, December 19. /TASS/: The US fears that Russia and China could exchange strategies that seek to undermine NATO unity, US permanent representative to the alliance, Julianne Smith, said on Tuesday.

"They [Russia and China] are increasingly using common tools that should be of concern to NATO, the Financial Times quoted Smith as saying.

The US diplomat said she believes that Moscow and Beijing are "exchanging hybrid tactics", which creates such factors as risks to energy supplies and cybersecurity problems."

BELGRADE, December 20. /TASS/: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has asked Stuart Munsch, the commander of Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, to provide NATO protection to the Serb population in Kosovo and Metohija.

"It was good talking to Admiral Munsch. I asked NATO to defend our people in KiM and thanked for the understanding of Serbia’s policy of neutrality," the president said on Instagram (banned in Russia as it’s owned by Meta Corporation, which is designated as extremist in Russia) on Tuesday after meeting with the admiral.