Russia's war on Ukraine, China, the Middle East and defence spending were the main topics of the first phone call between Kaja Kallas and Marco Rubio. View on euronews

The European Union renewed on Monday its wide-ranging sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, after Hungary stopped holding up the move in return for a declaration on energy security.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the Ukraine war, Iran and China on Tuesday in their first phone call since the Trump administration took office on Jan.

Russia is posing an existential threat to the European Union's security and to only way to address that is to increase spending on defence, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday, adding that the EU had for too long offered Russia alternatives.

Mutual defence is one of several components of the future European Space Shield, Kallas said, referring to the project announced the day before to protect Europe in space.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she expected the bloc to renew its sanctions on Russia on Monday after Hungary signalled it would stop holding up the move in return for assurances about energy security.

The European Commission (EC) proposed banning imports of Russian primary aluminum imports and restricting sales of video game consoles to Russia in a 16th package of sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine,

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and EU diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas have agreed to ‘continue exerting maximum pressure’ on Russia to end the war in Ukraine. They discussed coordination of policy towards Moscow during a telephone conversation, a source familiar with the content of the conversation told Bloomberg.

the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. While warning of a possible attack by Russia in the coming years, Kallas added that the EU had for too long offered Russia alternatives.

The EU wants to crack down on third parties that are still sending consoles and controllers to Russia. But it may not matter given that Russia can still source supplies from China.

The European Union has agreed to prolong for 6 months a raft of sanctions aimed at depriving Russia of funds to finance its war against Ukraine.

The EU wants to ban sales of video game controllers to Russia, but experts say it probably won't make any difference.