Ukraine has relinquished its ambition of joining the NATO military alliance in exchange for Western security guarantees as a compromise to end the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of talks with U.S. envoys in Berlin.

Estonia has started constructing concrete bunkers along its border with Russia as nations on NATO’s eastern flank rushes to build up land defenses. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed an agreement in January 2024 to beef up protection along their land borders with Russia and Moscow’s key ally, Belarus.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed willingness to drop Ukraine's NATO aspirations in exchange for Western security guarantees. But he rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia.

Former Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said after the Ukraine war, Europe must be ready for further Russian aggression.

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie fielded a bill to remove the U.S. from NATO, putting forward a companion measure after Sen. Mike Lee introduced a bill earlier this year.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will be among leaders in Berlin on Monday evening for talks on a possible peace agreement for Ukraine.

A Republican congressman has introduced legislation calling for the U.S. to withdraw from NATO. The bill, introduced by Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky and co-sponsored by Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, seeks to "remove the United States" from the alliance it has spearheaded since its inception in 1949.