Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that Poland is in talks with France and a group of close European allies on an advanced nuclear deterrence programme. Marcin Przydacz, chief foreign policy aide to Polish President Karol Nawrocki, cast doubt on Poland joining France's nuclear deterrent programme and suggested seeking a nuclear sharing arrangement with the US. French President Emmanuel Macron announced an expansion of France's nuclear arsenal and talks with eight European allies, including Poland, over cooperation.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was holding confidential talks with the French president about European nuclear deterrence. Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK's nuclear deterrent already protected fellow NATO members and he was enhancing nuclear cooperation with France. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte insisted that nobody was considering fully replacing the American nuclear umbrella.
US Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby said that Trump has made clear the US extended nuclear deterrent continues to apply in Europe. Russia condemned the European nuclear plans, stating that France's plan to expand its nuclear arsenal was a highly destabilising move that posed a potential threat to Moscow. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that Macron's announcement was 'an extremely destabilising development'.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the French move vindicated Moscow's position that French and British nuclear weapons should be part of any future negotiation on the global nuclear balance. According to major media, Peskov says this shows that Europe has an ambition to arm with nuclear weapons and to militarize. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia remains open to negotiations with the United States.
However, Russia has stated that it will not agree to an amended deal that departs from the 'spirit and letter' of President Putin's August summit with President Trump in Alaska. These geopolitical tensions occur against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Western intelligence officials stated that a small number of North Korean troops are in an unspecified area in occupied Ukraine.
Ukrainian and South Korean officials reported the presence of a limited number of North Korean personnel in occupied Donetsk City, mainly engineering personnel. Senior unspecified Ukrainian intelligence officials stated that Russian authorities transferred about 3,000 North Korean personnel to western Kursk Oblast from other areas in Russia. North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui visited Russia on October 29, 2024, but did not specify the purpose of the visit.
This does not contribute to stability on the European continent.
Russia still occupies roughly 20 percent of Ukraine after gaining almost five thousand square kilometers of territory in 2025. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War say Russia took about 4,700 sq km of territory in 2025, while Russia claims to have taken 6,000 sq km. The conflict has inflicted a heavy toll.
Since January 2022, Ukraine has received about $188 billion in aid from the United States and $197 billion from the European Union. 9 million registered as refugees. Some 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Key battlefield developments in 2024 included Russian forces being driven from Snake Island on June 30, 2024. Russian forces captured Lysychansk in the first week of July 2024, giving Russia control of the last remaining major population centers in Luhansk oblast. Peace efforts remain uncertain.
The Trump administration pledged to seek a settlement to end the war, setting out a twenty-point draft peace deal and a June deadline. A US-backed peace plan suggested Ukraine could cede control of all of Luhansk, Donetsk, Crimea, and occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson to Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the US, and Russia scheduled for March 5-6 in Abu Dhabi has not been cancelled but cannot be confirmed due to hostilities.
Zelensky also stated that a protracted war with Iran could impact supplies of air defence munitions from the US to Ukraine. Elon Musk's decision to deny Russian forces access to Starlink at the start of February 2026 has given Ukraine an advantage. International support for Ukraine continues.
26bn to Ukraine under the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration Loans scheme, part of a $50 billion G7 loan package. The UK has committed £3bn a year of military support to Ukraine each year for as long as it takes. Amid these developments, the USA withdrew from 66 international bodies and commitments and allowed the last nuclear arms control treaty to expire.