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

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.

European Union leaders are warning that Russia could test the bloc's readiness to defend itself within the next three to five years, calling for an increase in defense budgets and deepen military cooperation among member states.

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.

The sanctions up for renewal include all sector-based bans on trade as well as the measures that immobilised Russia's central bank assets. Legally, EU countries must unanimously vote to renew these restrictions every six months.

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.

Russia is posing an existential threat to the European Union’s security and the only way to address that is to increase spending on defence, 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.

European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday to continue sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, but to ease some sanctions against Syria following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. Weeks of stalling by Hungary ended Monday, allowing the EU to renew sanctions against Russia for another six months.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas reports that the foreign ministers of the EU member states have again decided to extend sanctions against Russia.

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

"Europe delivers: EU Foreign Ministers just agreed to extend again the sanctions on Russia," Kaja Kallas, the bloc's foreign policy chief, posted on social media. "This will continue to deprive ...

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.