President Donald Trump said he is very unhappy with Russian President Vladimir Putin

The revelation came just before Starmer and Macron signed a historic new defence relationship.

The attack targete dregions across Ukraine.

The attack targete dregions across Ukraine.

The drills are to ‘check the readiness’ of military personnel, weapons and equipment.

President Donald Trump is capitalizing on being called ‘daddy’ by NATO’s secretary general.

Russia has mocked Nato’s jump in defence spending, branding it ‘political masochism’.

As foreign minister Sergey Lavrov put it, the 5% rise – which Donald Trump hailed a ‘big win for Europe and… Western civilisation’ – is the ‘talk of the town’.

But the Russian official did not seem impressed, instead telling reporters: ‘The growth of military spending in Nato to 5% will not have consequences for Russian policy.’

He added: ‘You see, this is political masochism. At its core lies the frenzied attitude of some leaders that Russia wants and will always pursue its own interests…

‘They want to push us to the backwaters of world politics and surround it with Nato bases, but this will not happen.’

The Kremlin has previously accused Nato of being on a path of rampant militarisation and portraying Russia as a ‘fiend of hell’ to justify its major increase in defence spending.

Allies agreed to raise their collective spending goal over the next decade, citing what they called the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen the civil and military resilience.

The commitment to raise defence spending involves at least 3.5% of each member state’s GDP on core defence expenditure by 2035, plus up to 1.5% on a broadly defined series of investments loosely connected to security infrastructure.

It represents hundreds of billions of pounds a year from the current goal of 2% of GDP.

The additional spending will be a tall order for European nations, many of which have strained finances.

Leaders also reaffirmed the ‘ironclad commitment’ to the principle that a strike on one Nato member would lead to a response from the full alliance.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised US President Donald Trump for airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

It follows criticism from Donald Trump tat Nato members are not spending enough on defence.

Keir Starmer will promise to hike defence spending by billions more within the next decade – just months after his last big commitment.

As the world waits to see the outcome of US bombs dropped on Iran and Russia continues its years-long bombardment of Ukraine, the UK government is ramping up its military funding plans even further.

The Prime Minister is preparing to announce at today’s Nato summit in the Netherlands that 5% of GDP will be spent on national security.

That is expected to be split into 3.5% for core defence and 1.5% towards ‘resilience and security’, with a target of reaching those figures by 2035.

It comes less than four months after Starmer outlined a plan to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence each year from 2027 by gutting the UK’s international aid budget.

He also set out an aim of reaching 3% of GDP in the next parliament, expected to last from 2029 to 2034 – though the funding for that increase was less clear.

Announcing the move in February, the PM described it as a ‘clear ambition’ which was ‘subject to economic and fiscal conditions’.

An additional 0.5% of GDP for defence over the same timeline could require heavy cuts to other areas of government spending.

Starmer said the latest announcement was responding to an ‘era of radical uncertainty’, adding it required ‘agility, speed and a clear-eyed sense of the national interest’.

The PM said: ‘That’s why I have made the commitment to spend 5% of GDP on national security.

‘This is an opportunity to deepen our commitment to NATO and drive greater investment in the nation’s wider security and resilience.

‘After all, economic security is national security, and through this strategy we will bring the whole of society with us, creating jobs, growth and wages for working people – guided by my Plan for Change.’

Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has been leading the charge on urging the leaders of nations in the military alliance to increase their defence spending to 5%.

In a speech to mark the start of the conference, he said: ‘As leaders begin to gather for the summit here, this is our focus – ensuring we have all we need to deter and defend against any threat.’

However, one country appears to be hoping for a carveout.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said last week he would not commit to increase spending to 5% of GDP.

Appearing on Spanish television at the weekend, he said: ‘We fully respect the legitimate desire of other countries to increase their defence investment, but we are not going to do so.’

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‘Desperate people do desperate things to survive.’

Mothers in Britain will soon have to make an inconceivable choice – send their sons to fight against Russian soldiers in Europe, or suffer the end of Nato, Ukraine’s former foreign minister has said.

Dmytro Kuleba issued the warning only a few hours after Kyiv faced what he described as ‘the worst drone assault’ since the start of the invasion.

He spoke to Metro exclusively about Vladimir Putin’s goal to ‘expose’ the ‘falsehood’ of the collective security commitment that binds members of the military alliance, and Europe’s ‘weaknesses’.

The politician said: ‘Putin may invade Nato territory soon – so now what? Is Nato going to send a division to fight back?

‘The first day that Nato will spend on deliberating whether to trigger Article 5 or not, and how to respond, will be the end of the alliance.

‘The first day the EU – which is no big bother to England – is going to spend discussing its response to Russia, is going to be the end of it too.

‘This is what Putin is pursuing, because he hates Ukraine – but he deeply despises Europe too. It is a very deep conviction.’

Kuleba is not the only one to sound an alarm over the future of Europe and Nato.

Just last week, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said Russia may be ready to attack the alliance within five years, calling for a ‘quantum leap’ in defence spending and industrial mobilisation to avert the conflict.

Putin’s war machine has been speeding up. On April 1, Russia launched its largest conscription drive with the goal of enlisting 160,000 men. Drone production has also been taking centre-stage.

Away from a military spend increase, Kuleba stressed that the ‘real focus’ should be on developing ‘the will to defend yourself’ in Europeans.

He said: ‘Many people believe that the real test for Nato is whether the US is going to fight for Europe.

‘The real test will be whether British mothers will actually accept that their sons have to die for Finland or Estonia or Poland. If they don’t, there is no Nato.

‘This is is how World War II started. “Why fight for Danzig [now the city of Gdańsk]? Let’s give it to Hitler, it is just a city in Poland. Why should we die for it?” That was the question asked by western European nations [at the time].

‘And this is exactly the question that Putin is going to pose to Nato. Europe is already spending money on weapons, but it has to do so much faster.

‘But the real question is, who is going to tell the voters that the threat of the war is real?’

Kuleba’s warnings come from a wealth of experience. Before the beginning of the war, no one in Ukraine – and the rest of Europe – did actually believe that Russia would invade and proceed to massacre tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers.

He also made the mistake of thinking that after a certain number of Russian losses in Ukraine – ‘like 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers’ – Putin would eventually withdraw.

It is estimated that there have been one million Russian soldiers killed and wounded since the conflict began in Feburary 2022.

It is this ‘same pattern of behaviour’ – blindly trusting that Putin ‘would not dare’ to attack – that Kuleba sees across Europe.

He said: ‘Telling the truth to people about the prospect of war in Europe is what requires more attention than anything else…

‘People in Britain or any other country can listen to what I’m saying or they can decide that I am a warmongering Ukrainian who is trying to pull them into my war.

‘I am perfectly fine with any choice they make. What I can say, what I can urge them, is not to repeat our mistakes.

‘The biggest mistake Ukraine made was that we did not believe that this can happen to us on this scale. We, in Ukraine, also believed that it is not going to happen to us because Putin would never dare to do it.

‘So this is the mistake that people are making. I look around in Europe and I just see the same pattern happening. The same pattern of behaviour.

‘Do you think that if Ukraine was able to attack airfields in Russia, 1,000 miles away from Ukraine, Russia is not able to attack any piece of infrastructure in any European country? That would be a very, very big mistake to think so.’

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Mothers in Britain will soon have to make an inconceivable choice – send their sons to fight against Russian soldiers in Europe, or suffer the end of Nato, Ukraine’s former foreign minister has said.

Dmytro Kuleba issued the warning only a few hours after Kyiv faced what he described as ‘the worst drone assault’ since the start of the invasion.

He spoke to Metro exclusively about Vladimir Putin’s goal to ‘expose’ the ‘falsehood’ of the collective security commitment that binds members of the military alliance, and Europe’s ‘weaknesses’.

The politician said: ‘Putin may invade Nato territory soon – so now what? Is Nato going to send a division to fight back?

‘The first day that Nato will spend on deliberating whether to trigger Article 5 or not, and how to respond, will be the end of the alliance.

‘The first day the EU – which is no big bother to England – is going to spend discussing its response to Russia, is going to be the end of it too.

‘This is what Putin is pursuing, because he hates Ukraine – but he deeply despises Europe too. It is a very deep conviction.’

Kuleba is not the only one to sound an alarm over the future of Europe and Nato.

Just last week, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said Russia may be ready to attack the alliance within five years, calling for a ‘quantum leap’ in defence spending and industrial mobilisation to avert the conflict.

Putin’s war machine has been speeding up. On April 1, Russia launched its largest conscription drive with the goal of enlisting 160,000 men. Drone production has also been taking centre-stage.

Away from a military spend increase, Kuleba stressed that the ‘real focus’ should be on developing ‘the will to defend yourself’ in Europeans.

He said: ‘Many people believe that the real test for Nato is whether the US is going to fight for Europe.

‘The real test will be whether British mothers will actually accept that their sons have to die for Finland or Estonia or Poland. If they don’t, there is no Nato.

‘This is is how World War II started. “Why fight for Danzig [now the city of Gdańsk]? Let’s give it to Hitler, it is just a city in Poland. Why should we die for it?” That was the question asked by western European nations [at the time].

‘And this is exactly the question that Putin is going to pose to Nato. Europe is already spending money on weapons, but it has to do so much faster.

‘But the real question is, who is going to tell the voters that the threat of the war is real?’

Kuleba’s warnings come from a wealth of experience. Before the beginning of the war, no one in Ukraine – and the rest of Europe – did actually believe that Russia would invade and proceed to massacre tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers.

He also made the mistake of thinking that after a certain number of Russian losses in Ukraine – ‘like 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers’ – Putin would eventually withdraw.

It is estimated that there have been one million Russian soldiers killed and wounded since the conflict began in Feburary 2022.

It is this ‘same pattern of behaviour’ – blindly trusting that Putin ‘would not dare’ to attack – that Kuleba sees across Europe.

He said: ‘Telling the truth to people about the prospect of war in Europe is what requires more attention than anything else…

‘People in Britain or any other country can listen to what I’m saying or they can decide that I am a warmongering Ukrainian who is trying to pull them into my war.

‘I am perfectly fine with any choice they make. What I can say, what I can urge them, is not to repeat our mistakes.

‘The biggest mistake Ukraine made was that we did not believe that this can happen to us on this scale. We, in Ukraine, also believed that it is not going to happen to us because Putin would never dare to do it.

‘So this is the mistake that people are making. I look around in Europe and I just see the same pattern happening. The same pattern of behaviour.

‘Do you think that if Ukraine was able to attack airfields in Russia, 1,000 miles away from Ukraine, Russia is not able to attack any piece of infrastructure in any European country? That would be a very, very big mistake to think so.’

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It’s a major turning point.

A Russian Su-24 is capable of carrying guided bombs and precision missiles (Picture: Getty Images)

Nato was forced to deploy forces to intercept a Russian Su-34 bomber performing ‘dangerous maneuvers’ over the Baltic Sea.

Pola…

Mordvichev killed tens of thousands of his own men in the Kremlin’s operation to capture the blitzed town of Avdiivka in Ukraine.

War now feels dangerously close on Nato’s eastern flank after a Russian fighter jet tore into Estonia’s airspace.

It was a brief violation – lasting for about a minute – but it was enough to trigger an emergency alarm in the Baltic Sea.

It happened after the Estonian Navy said it attempted to detain a Russia-bound oil tanker, while it was navigating in international waters.

The vessel, Jaguar, was sanctioned by Britain last Friday, amid accusations it is one of about 100 in Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ – deployed by the Kremlin to avoid international sanctions.

The tanker was near Naissaar Island, off Tallinn, when the Estonian Navy communicated with it by radio at 3.30pm UK time on Tuesday.

Estonian authorities deployed an AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter, an M28 Skytruck aircraft, and the EML Raju patrol boat to intercept it.

They demanded that Jaguar’s crew change course, but they refused to comply.

It was then that Russian forces scrambled a Su-35 fighter plane to provide cover for the tanker.

Public broadcaster ERR reported on Wednesday that the Russian aircraft’s transponders had been switched off and no flight plan had been filed.

Estonian Navy commander Ivo Vark said that forces ‘had an obligation to verify the vessel’s documents and legal status as it was sailing ‘without a nationality’.

He added: The vessel denied cooperation and continued its journey toward Russia…

‘Given the vessel’s lack of nationality, the use of force, including boarding the vessel, was deemed unnecessary.’

An Estonian patrol then escorted the Jaguar until it eventually reached Russian waters, Vark added.

Footage filmed from a bridge of a tanker whose IMO identification number matches that of the Jaguar shows a navy patrol boat, a helicopter and a patrol aircraft hovering nearby.

A voice on a radio is heard in the background: ‘This is Estonian warship … follow my instructions, alter your course to 105 immediately.’

In Russian, a voice says off-camera, is heard saying: ‘We are met by helicopters, they demand we go on anchor.’

A military jet, which Estonia does not operate, is also glimpsed flying nearby.

Margus Tsahkna, Estonian foreign minister, stressed this is a ‘very serious and regrettable incident, which is completely unacceptable.’

He said on X: ‘Yesterday another incident with Russia’s shadow fleet in the Gulf of Finland proved that we must act.

‘With the info op that followed Russia has clearly tied itself to the shadow fleet – a threat that must face tougher, faster sanctions.’

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It’s the first time the jets have been deployed on this mission.

Trump delivers remarks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 10, 2025 in Washington (Picture: Getty)

Donald Trump is preparing to swing a budgetary guillotine over nearly all funding to Nato, the UN, and 20 international org…