NATO has said its pledge for tens of billions of dollars in security aid for Ukraine will be fulfilled by the end of 2025. The alliance announced on Wednesday that 40 billion euros ($41.6 billion) which had been agreed by the bloc's 32 members during its Washington, D.C. summit last July would be sent to Kyiv this year.

It came just a day after Romania scrambled two F-16 jets on January 29 in response to further Russian drone strikes. The Romanian government approved draft laws in December allowi

The 23 EU members who also belong to NATO are likely to agree to raise the defence spending target above the current 2% of national output at a June summit of the alliance that will set a new level, European Council President Antonio Costa said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte discussed the alliance in a call on Wednesday, including "building a stronger, more lethal NATO Alliance" and raising allied defense spending,

Mads Petersen, owner of Greenland-based startup Arctic Unmanned, sat in a car to keep warm while he tested a small drone at minus 43 degrees Celsius (minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit).

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Sen. Mike Lee are advocating for the U.S. to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organiation (NATO). "If you could snap your fingers and get us out of NATO today, would you?" Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked in a post on X.

Romania has said it scrambled F-16 jets in response to Russian drones landing near the border of the NATO country. The fourth-generation aircraft were sent into the air after drones approached from Ukrainian airspace near the Romanian border overnight Tuesday, Romania's Air Force said.

NATO has also taken steps to ensure its members are positioned effectively against threats in sufficient numbers and maintained at a high state of readiness. At the 2022 Madrid Summit, NATO increased the number and locations of its forces deployed on its eastern flank, integrating modern strategies and technologies to enhance its effectiveness.

NATO is deploying eyes in the sky and on the Baltic Sea to protect cables and pipelines that stitch together the nine countries with shores on Baltic waters.

FILE PHOTO: Armin Papperger, CEO of German defense and automotive group Rheinmetall AG poses in front of the company's logo and headquarters following a Reuters interview in Duesseldorf, Germany January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jana Rodenbusch/File Photo

After a series of suspected undersea cable cuttings, NATO has launched a new surveillance and deterrence mission to protect critical infrastructure under the Baltic Sea.

Several undersea cables running under the surface of the Baltic Sea have been damaged in suspected sabotage incidents in recent months.