Category Archives: NATO

A U.S. Army graphic of all the exercises taking place around the Black Sea this summer. Armenia is taking part in some of them, but Azerbaijan isn't.

When NATO military exercises kick off in Georgia next week, they will include troops from the United States, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine, and Armenia. But they won't include Azerbaijan, an unexpected, last-minute dropout.

Azerbaijan also didn't participate in another set of recently concluded NATO-affiliated drills in Romania, although in past years they had participated in several previous iterations of the drill. Armenia, meanwhile, took part for the first time in the exercises, under the rubric Saber Guardian

And Azerbaijan also didn't take part in U.S./Ukraine-hosted naval exercises in the Black Sea, called Sea Breeze, in spite of earlier promises that they would. (Armenia didn't take part in these, either, possibly because they have no naval forces.)

It's not clear why Azerbaijan dropped out of the exercises in Georgia and the Black Sea. There has been no official explanation, and neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to The Bug Pit's request for comment.

The exercises are all part of a huge series of NATO drills around the Black Sea this summer in which about 40,000 troops are participating. This, naturally, has aroused Russia's ire. "All these deployments, including the incessant series of exercises, create an absolutely new configuration of forces near our borders, which in a substantial way not only worsen the security situation but also present a danger, a threat to Russia," said Russia's ambassador to NATO, Alexander Grushkov.

And Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigoriy Karasin accused Georgia of "aggressive escapades" and that "the exercises being conducted in Georgia with the participation of NATO soldiers do not inspire optimism and a sense of security in the region."

So it may seem unlikely that Armenia, by far Russia's closest ally in the South Caucasus and a member of Russia's anti-NATO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), is taking part in these aggressive escapades. It's not clear in what capacity or strength they're taking part -- neither the exercise organizers nor Armenia has given any details about what sort of units it's sending.

But it's common for Armenia to send small units to NATO exercises, and otherwise cooperate in limited ways with NATO. "No doubt, the CSTO and NATO pursue different goals, but... our practice shows that it is possible that a country finds ways for cooperation in different formats to ensure its national security," President Serzh Sargsyan said earlier this year.

The more curious case is Azerbaijan. Baku cooperates with NATO as well; just last month Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov visited Brussels to discuss the country's participation in NATO's Afghanistan mission, and in May an Azerbaijani delegation went to Brussels to discuss future cooperation. Azerbaijani troops have taken part in a number of exercises in the past.

The story of these exercise dropouts has been more or less ignored by the major Azerbaijani press, but one website quoted military analyst Uzeir Jafarov as saying that Armenia's presence at Noble Partner would justify Azerbaijan staying away. (It's worth noting, though, that Armenia wasn't in the Sea Breeze exercises which Azerbaijan also dropped out of, and both Armenia and Azerbaijan took part, without incident, in the NATO Saber Guardian exercises last year.) Another article, somewhat confusing the timeline of events, suggested that "Azerbaijan is not taking part in the exercises on its own initiative, and in its absence Armenia saw its chance to finally catch NATO's eye."

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Azerbaijan, Without Explanation, Drops Out of NATO Exercises - EurasiaNet

NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller and U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker have expressed great concern over the situation in eastern Ukraine and build-up of Russia's military presence in the annexed Crimea.

The NATO Deputy Secretary General held a meeting with the US Special Representative at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Ms. Gottemoeller and Ambassador Volker discussed the security situation in eastern Ukraine, Kyivs reforms, and NATOs support for Ukraine, the Alliance press service reports.

I was pleased to meet with Kurt Volker today. We agreed that the situation in eastern Ukraine and Russias military build-up in Crimea continue to be of great concern. Russia must respect the Minsk Agreements, which are vital for Ukraines security and stability, said the Deputy Secretary General.

As noted, NATO continues to provide strong political and practical support for Ukraine.

"Through ten different Trust Funds, NATO Allies have pledged almost forty million euros to support Ukraine in areas such as command and control, cyber defence and medical rehabilitation," the statement reads.

As a reminder, Ambassador Volker previously served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO from 2008 to 2009.

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NATO, US Department of State seriously concerned about situation in eastern Ukraine and Crimea - Ukrinform. Ukraine and world news

Russias Defense Ministry has vowed to increaseits firepower in its southern regions near Ukraine and the Black Sea, in response to U.K. jets in Romania.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) currently runs patrols on behalf of NATO ally Romania, with four Typhoon jets deployed near the Romanian port city of Constanta. London made the deployment in April, just as the U.S. deployed two of the worlds most advanced warplanes, the F-22. One of the RAFs jets scrambledon Tuesday to track a group of Russian bombersflying across the Black Sea.

Related: How do the new U.S. sanctions on Russia work, and why is Europe worried?

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The tailing was at such a distance that the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed it did not even see the Typhoon, though Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Wednesday at a conference of military officials that Russia needed to beef up measures in the region regardless.

Under these circumstances, Russia is forced to take symmetrical measures for neutralizing the emerging threat for national security, conducting actions for strategic containment and raising the battle capabilities of Russias Southern Military District, Shoigu said.

Shoigu did not say what the measures would be but usedthe recentU.S.-lead Sea Breeze drill conducted with Ukraineas a reason why Russia needed to reinforce further. NATO has repeatedly denied its limited multinational reassurance measures are intended to be aggressive towardRussia.

Over the last half a year the Southern Military District received over 600 units of combat equipment, Shoigu said, state news agency Itar-Tass reported. The battle training of the staff and the preparation of the military authority is being perfected constantly.

He indicated that the high rate of exerciseswould continue.

The Black Sea and the Southern Military District is currently one of the crucial areas for Russia, which borderstwo nations on whose territory it has deployed troopsUkraine and Georgia.

Three NATO states sit on an extensive share of the Black Sea coastline. As ties between Russia and the NATO alliance have soured over Crimea, Black Sea waters have seen a handful of tense encounters between Russian and Western personnel.

Among the more spectacular was a near miss between a U.S. aircraft and a Russian jet jumping to escort it, getting within 10 feet for the U.S. jet.

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Russia to Raise Firepower in South to Neuter NATO Air 'Threat' - Newsweek

Fighter jet raced towards Moscow's TU-22 Backfire bombers off the coast of Romania

THE RAF this morning scrambled one of its fighter jets to intercept two Russian bombers in the Black Sea.

A British Typhoon raced towards Moscows TU-22 Backfire bombers as they approached Nato airspace off the coast of Romania.

PA:Press Association

The supersonic Brit jet - capable of reaching speeds of 1,500mph - was based atMihail Kogalniceanu Air Base on the western Black Sea coast.

Russia and Ukraine occupy the northern extreme of the sea.

The jets did not come close enough to see each other and the Russian aircraft departed southwards.

Wing Commander Lewis Cunningham, Officer Commanding 3(F) Squadron said It worked as we would have expected it to.

"We took down the details, ran to the aircraft and I took off within the prescribed timeline.

He added: Its satisfying. We spotted that there was something happening and then very quickly the phone call came and we were running out of the door.

Wing Commander Andrew Coe, Commanding Officer of 135 Expeditionary Air Wing based in Romania, said: This was a routine operation and is no different to what NATO aircraft do in other areas on a regular basis."

Russian and RAF jets have tracked each other several times in recent years - with Vladimir Putin's air force launching several sabre-rattling runs around the UK.

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In February, RAF top guns intercepted two nuclear-capable Russian Blackjack bombers as they skirted the west coast of Scotland and Ireland.

On the way they were met by two of Britains supersonic Typhoon jets scrambled from two Scottish bases.

At the time ann RAF spokesperson said:We can confirm that quick reaction alert Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Coningsby scrambled to monitor two Blackjack bombers while they were in the UK area of interest.

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Several developments this week demonstrate the continued deterioration of Turkeys relationships with traditional Western allies. The most shocking of the stories began to unfold when the state-owned Anadolu News Agency disclosed classified information about the whereabouts of soldiers from the United States and Europe who are fighting ISIS. As Al-Monitor noted:

The reportrevealedcrucial information on some of the US bases and on French and American soldiers in the region. The article and a detailed map appeared in AAs English version on July 18. On July 19, the leak spread to international media outlets. The US military told the press that publishing such sensitive informationwas professionally irresponsible.

Although President Recep Tayyip Erdoans chief foreign policy advisor, Ibrahim Kalin, denied any government involvement in the revelations about secret bases, the unwillingness of the president to remove the story from the webpages his ministries control speaks volumes. The Turkish state has indirectly sanctioned the dispersal of highly sensitive information that endangers the lives of American and European soldiers.

U.S. support for the Syrian Kurds remains the proximate reason for this tit for tat undertaken by the Turkish side. But there are more fundamental factors is Erdoans turn against the West. His governments once cavalier interest in pursuing EU membership has turned to outright hostility; he has revived neo-Ottoman foreign policy goals that turn Turkey to the east and the Islamic world; and he has domestically discredited Kemalism as a governing philosophy.

These large trends portend difficulties for the functioning of Europes web of alliances. As Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty notes the Parties may by unanimous agreement, invite any other European Stateto accede Turkey will not in the near future play ball on a controversial enlargement. This reality lends credence to President Trumps often crude avowal that NATO has in some important respects become obsolete. Meanwhile a new, assertive, but not very capable power is freelancing around the already fragmented Middle East and the Caucasus. The EU, having failed to bring Turkey into the fold when it was willing, must now learn to live with a hostile and aggressive new power on its fragile southeastern frontier.

Meanwhile, in the latest development of the ongoing saga of acrimony between Germany and Turkey, NATO itself has decided to step in and de-escalate things between its two feuding member states.The current dispute, whichbegana week ago with the arbitrary detention of a German human rights activist in Turkey, has snowballed with astonishing speed.Reutersreports:

The mediation offer by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, announcedon Monday, came as Ankara itself sought to limit the economic fallout from thedamaging row with Berlin, dropping a request for Germany to help it investigate hundreds of German companies it said could have links to terrorism.

Readers may need to fight the urge to rub their eyes at that sentence. An argument over a single German detainee has caused a cascade of disputes, with the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaublethreatening to curtail investment in Turkey, and Ankara returning the favor bysubmittingto Interpol a list of 700 German companies Turkish authorities supposedly suspect of financing terrorism.Then came the further retaliatory action taken by Turkey with regard to Germanys military. The same Reuters article notes:

Adding to tensions is Turkeys refusal to let German members of parliament visit soldiers stationed at two air bases []

This has already led Germany to move troops involved in the campaign against Islamic State from Turkeys Incirlik base to Jordan. The risk of further decampments has sparked deep concern in NATO and now prompted it to intervene.

Yes, Germany is willing to move its troops out of NATO due to an inter-member political conflict which it cannot resolve. It would prefer to keep them in Jordan, a country which, on the whole, has shown itself to be a much more dependable ally in the fight against ISIS than the mercurial and self-serving Turkey.What more damming signal could there be for a defense alliance in distress than the inability of its members to coperate with each other on mutual defense?

After a few days of these increased tensions, Turkey capitulated in part, caving to economic pressure by retracting its list of terrorism-supporting companies. (It went even further to try to save face, saying the submission of the list to Interpol had arose from a simple communications problem.)

This suggests that Europe may still hold some leverage over Turkey, despite its Presidents growing unpredictability.Whatever Erdoans self-serving geopolitical machinations lead him to do, he cannot change the fact of his countrys economic interdependence with Europe.Yet the days when NATO could command the loyalty of its members, necessitating that they handle disputes with co-parties discreetly, are long past. Its ranks may continue to fill with members in name only.

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NATO(-member) in Name Only? - The American Interest

MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. Finland's membership of NATO is off the agenda at present although the Finnish government does not rule out a prospect of this kind in the future, the Finnish ambassador in Moscow, Mikko Hautala said on Tuesday in an interview with the Moscow-based Kommersant daily.

He said any country took an interest in having diversified plans of action and that is why nothing could be ruled out but the issue was not in the current plans.

Hautala recalled Finland had been supporting longtime relations of partnership with NATO. Specifically, it was conducting political dialogue with the pact and taking part in certain exercises organized by NATO.

He said Finland was proceeding from its own interests in this sphere and its decisions depended on whether one or another action could be lucrative for the capability of its own Armed Forces.

Finland is one of the five most advanced partners of NATO along with Australia, Georgia, Jordan, and Sweden.

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said on June 11, 2016, in a speech at a congress of his Center Party that an application for membership of the North-Atlantic alliance would require a broad popular support. Opinion polls show that a possibility of NATO membership is supported by a minority of Finns.

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Finland's membership of NATO off agenda at present ambassador - TASS

Macedonia's defense minister reaffirmed her government's commitment to joining NATO and the European Union, saying in an interview that the nation's new government fully understands that success or failure is in its own hands.

"Nobody will bring it to us," Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska told VOA's Macedonian service. "We need to work toward it, to be accountable for the progress. And the international community's support will follow."

In office since May 31, the government of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has placed its highest priority on reforms aimed at preparing Macedonia for integration into the Euro-Atlantic community. European Union leaders have declared their readiness to work with the new government, and the Zaev cabinet has responded with an agenda listing concrete reform priorities.

At the same time, there is a renewed push to resolve a long-running dispute with Greece, which has opposed NATO membership for Macedonia as long as it shares the name of a neighboring Greek province.

Political life has largely stabilized in the former Yugoslav republic since supporters of the previous conservative government stormed the parliament three months ago to try to prevent the transfer of power to Zaev's Social Democratic party.

Sekerinska was brutally attacked in front of news cameras during the incident, but she said in the interview that her government is looking to the future, not the past.

"We have to make up for the time lost during the tenure of the previous leadership. We cannot expect anybody to be more ambitious and more interested in Macedonia becoming a NATO member than Macedonia itself," she said.

Sekerinska listed media freedom, civil society, rule of law and judiciary reforms among the areas in the most urgent need of improvement. "That is a huge task, but we need to show that we are serious about NATO."

Sekerinska said she is looking forward to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence's scheduled visit to the region next week as an opportunity for Macedonia, in a co-host role, to build closer ties with "the most important strategic partner."

"This is a very important sign that the United States, the key player in NATO, considers the Western Balkans a zone they can support and invest in."

Asked whether the new government is concerned about Russian influence in Macedonia, Sekerinska said its priority is to "reach out and build relations with other countries."

"However, our message to them, including to the Russian Federation, is that while we are interested in having close bilateral relations, the strategic decisions will ultimately come from the Macedonian institutions and the citizens of Macedonia," she said.

"Joining NATO and the EU is our goal, based on the broadest consensus in the country, and these questions have been decided, and will be decided, only by the citizens of this country."

As one of the top recruiting centers for the Islamic State group, Macedonia is plagued with a growing risk of terrorism and violent extremism. Sekerinska said the threat is universal and requires intelligence-sharing among the countries.

"Macedonia can certainly contribute in securing the region's stability, but to do that effectively, we need to refocus the institutions designed to fight these threats. In recent years, they were misused for political assignments, to fight the opposition, instead of working on the job they were designed to do," she said.

While acknowledging that will take time, Sekerinska said the new government is determined to become a partner in the fight against today's global threats.

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Macedonia's New Leaders Set Sights on NATO, EU Membership - Voice of America

With U.S. lawmakers expected to finalize new sanctions on Russia this week, former NATO Supreme Commander James Stavridis told VOA that would be a positive move, since he believes President Donald Trump's administration has taken too weak a stance on Russia.

In an interview Tuesday with VOA's Jela De Franceschi, Stavridis, now dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, said additional sanctions on Russia would be "appropriate, measured and make enormous sense, given the level of egregious behavior we have seen from Vladimir Putin's Russia."

"Strong sanctions are necessary," Staviridis said, listing Russia's offenses: interfering with the U.S. election; supporting Syrian leader Bashir al-Assad, whom he calls a war criminal; and, "worst of all," invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea.

Trump "has not been sufficiently strong in his approach to Putin, to Russia," Stavridis said, and thus it is appropriate for Congress to levy new sanctions.

Asked about how the United States and Russia can cooperate, Stavridis said the two superpowers could still collaborate on counterterrorism, fighting Islamic State and suppressing the illegal narcotics trade. Afghanistan might also be an area where Washington and Moscow can cooperate, he added.

The United States and Russia also can improve relations through their mutual membership in international organizations, Stavridis said, such as the NATO-Russia Council; the Arctic Council, which promotes better coordination among the Arctic states; and the United Nations Security Council.

The more the United States and Russia interact, he added, the better the chances that they can prevent a recurrence of the Cold War.

"On the other hand," Stavridis noted, "the United States has fundamental interests and a global leadership goal that would require it, at times, to confront Russia on inappropriate international behavior."

The most important area where the United States and Russia can find common ground, the former Western alliance commander said, is in Europe, where NATO faces Russian activity on its borders, beginning in Ukraine. The top challenge is avoiding a confrontation between NATO and Russian military forces, he added.

"We need to avoid anything that would lead to escalation," Stavridis said.

Ukraine represents a particular challenge, he told VOA: "We've seen here an invasion [of eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian forces], an annexation [of Crimea]. Unless the Minsk agreement is fully implemented, I see very challenging times ahead for Russian-European relationships, and the United States is very much a part of that because of the trans-Atlantic relationship."

Admiral Stavridis discussed these issues in an interview with VOA's Serbian service.

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Former NATO Supreme Commander Backs New Russia Sanctions - Voice of America

Indian supporters of Gorkhaland chant slogans tied with chains during a protest march in capital New Delhi. Eastern India's hill resort of Darjeeling has been rattled at the height of tourist season after violent clashes broke out between police and hundreds of protesters of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) a long-simmering separatist movement that has long called for a separate state for ethnic Gorkhas in West Bengal. The GJM wants a new, separate state of "Gorkhaland" carved out of eastern West Bengal state, of which Darjeeling is a part.

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Demonstrators clash with riot security forces while rallying against Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela. The banner on the bridge reads "It will be worth it"

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The Heathcote river as it rises to high levels in Christchurch, New Zealand. Heavy rain across the South Island in the last 24 hours has caused widespread damage and flooding with Dunedin, Waitaki, Timaru and the wider Otago region declaring a state of emergency.

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A mourner prays at a memorial during an event to commemorate the first anniversary of the shooting spree that one year ago left ten people dead, including the shooter in Munich, Germany. One year ago 18-year-old student David S. shot nine people dead and injured four others at and near a McDonalds restaurant and the Olympia Einkaufszentrum shopping center. After a city-wide manhunt that caused mass panic and injuries David S. shot himself in a park. According to police David S., who had dual German and Iranian citizenship, had a history of mental troubles.

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Palestinians react following tear gas that was shot by Israeli forces after Friday prayer on a street outside Jerusalem's Old City

Reuters/Ammar Awad

Ousted former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra greets supporters as she arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand

Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha

Marek Suski of Law and Justice (PiS) (C) party scuffles with Miroslaw Suchon (2nd L) of Modern party (.Nowoczesna) as Michal Szczerba of Civic Platform (PO) (L) party holds up a copy of the Polish Constitution during the parliamentary Commission on Justice and Human Rights voting on the opposition's amendments to the bill that calls for an overhaul of the Supreme Court in Warsaw

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A firefighter stands near a grass fire as he prepares to defend a home from the Detwiler fire in Mariposa, California

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Michael Lindell ,CEO of My Pillow reacts as U.S. President Donald Trump attends a Made in America roundtable meeting in the East Room of the White House

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Giant pandas lie beside ice blocks at Yangjiaping Zoo in Chongqing, China. Yangjiaping Zoo provided huge ice blocks for giant pandas to help them remove summer heat

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People ride camels in the desert in Dunhuang, China, as stage 10 of The Silkway Rally continues

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17th FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Team North Korea practice under coach supervision

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IAAF World ParaAthletics Championships - London, Britain - July 17, 2017

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Workers check power lines during maintenance work in Laian, in China's eastern Anhui province

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Russia Kamaz's driver Dmitry Sotnikov, co-drivers Ruslan Akhmadeev and Ilnur Mustafin compete during the Stage 9 of the Silk Way 2017 between Urumqi and Hami, China

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Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks with Special Operations Command soldiers during a visit to the Australian Army's Holsworthy Barracks in western Sydney

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Men in traditional sailor costumes celebrate after carrying a statue of the El Carmen Virgin, who is worshipped as the patron saint of sailors, into the Mediterranean Sea during a procession in Torremolinos, near Malaga, Spain

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People participate in a protest in front of the Sejm building (the lower house of the Polish parliament) in Warsaw, Poland. The demonstration was organized by Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD). Members and supporters of the KOD and opposition parties protested against changes in the judicial law and the Supreme Court

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People prepare to swim with a portrait of late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong on the bank of the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei province, China to celebrate the 51st anniversary of Chairman Mao swimming in the Yangtze River.

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A woman takes a selfie picture with her mobile phone next to the statue of Omer Halisdemir in Istanbul, in front of a memorial with the names of people killed last year during the failed coup attempt .

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French President Emmanuel Macron gestures next to US President Donald Trump during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris.

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Philippine National Police chief Ronald Bato Dela Rosa holds an M60 machine gun during a Gun and Ammunition show at a mall in Mandaluyong city, metro Manila, Philippines

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker embrace before the EU-Ukraine summit in Kiev, Ukraine

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US President Donald Trump (R) and First Lady Melania Trump disembark form Air Force One upon arrival at Paris Orly airport on July 13, 2017, beginning a 24-hour trip that coincides with France's national day and the 100th anniversary of US involvement in World War I

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Iraqis walk on a damaged street in west Mosul a few days after the government's announcement of the liberation of the embattled city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters

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Iraqi boys wash a vehicle in west Mosul a few days after the government's announcement of the liberation of the embattled city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters

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Afghan policeman pour fuel over jerry cans containing confiscated acetic acid before setting it alight on the outskirts of Herat. Some 15,000 liters of acetic acid, often mixed with heroin, were destroyed by counter narcotics police

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Residents stand amid the debris of their homes which were torn down in the evicted area of the Bukit Duri neighbourhood located on the Ciliwung river banks in Jakarta

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Boys play cricket at a parking lot as it rains in Chandigarh, India

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress (WPC) in Istanbul

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Police from the anti-terror squad participate in an anti-terror performance among Acehnese dancers during a ceremony to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the Indonesian police corps in Banda Aceh

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New Mongolia's president Khaltmaa Battulga takes an oath during his inauguration ceremony in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

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US army 1st Division, US air force, US Navy and US Marines, march down the Champs Elysees, with the Arc de Triomphe in the background, in Paris during a rehearsal of the annual Bastille Day military parade

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Participants run ahead of Puerto de San Lorenzo's fighting bulls during the third bull run of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain. Each day at 8:00 am hundreds of people race with six bulls, charging along a winding, 848.6-metre (more than half a mile) course through narrow streets to the city's bull ring, where the animals are killed in a bullfight or corrida, during this festival, immortalised in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises" and dating back to medieval times and also featuring religious processions, folk dancing, concerts and round-the-clock drinking.

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Iraqi women, who fled the fighting between government forces and Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in the Old City of Mosul, cry as they stand in the city's western industrial district awaiting to be relocated

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US President Donald Trump arrives for another working session during the G20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany

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People climb up on a roof to get a view during riots in Hamburg, northern Germany, where leaders of the world's top economies gather for a G20 summit

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A military helicopter rescues people trapped on the roof of the Ministry of Finance by an intense fire in San Salvador

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Donald Trump arrives to deliver a speech at Krasinski Square in Warsaw, Poland.

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A firefighter conducts rescue operations in an area damaged by heavy rain in Asakura, Japan.

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Anti-capitalism activists protest in Hamburg, where leaders of the worlds top economies will gather for a G20 summit.

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Crowds gather for the start of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain.

AFP

A member of the Iraqi security forces runs with his weapon during a fight between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants in the Old City of Mosul, Iraq.

A U.S. MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile is fired during the combined military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea against North Korea at an undisclosed location in South Korea

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North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un looks on during the test-fire of inter-continental ballistic missile Hwasong-14

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a signing ceremony following the talks at the Kremlin

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Belarussian servicemen march during a military parade as part of celebrations marking the Independence Day in Minsk, Belarus

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Ambulance cars and fire engines are seen near the site where a coach burst into flames after colliding with a lorry on a motorway near Muenchberg, Germany

Reuters

Protesters demonstrating against the upcoming G20 economic summit ride boats on Inner Alster lake during a protest march in Hamburg, Germany. Hamburg will host the upcoming G20 summit and is expecting heavy protests throughout.

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Protesters carry a large image of jailed Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo as they march during the annual pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong. Thousands joined an annual protest march in Hong Kong, hours after Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his visit to the city by warning against challenges to Beijing's sovereignty.

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Jockey Andrea Coghe of "Selva" (Forest) parish rides his horse during the first practice for the Palio Horse Race in Siena, Italy June 30, 2017

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Sweden to hold 'biggest military exercise in decades' with Nato amid fears over Russia - The Independent

Two NATO warships have docked at the Ukrainian portof Odessa and will open its doors to local visitors as part of the alliances bid to show support for Ukraines ambitions to one day join the Western-led bloc.

Ukraine, once a famously neutral state, has veered towardNATO membership since its relationship with neighboring Russia collapsed after a series of land grabs by pro-Russian forces in 2014. A poll last month found that nearly56 percent of Ukrainianssupported joining the alliance.

Read More: How a Russian ally kicked the U.S. military out after receiving missile strike threat

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The U.K. Royal Navys HMS Duncan and Turkeys frigate Yildirim arrived at the Black Sea port on Monday for a three-day stay,NATO representation to Ukraine announced on Facebook.

The vessels are in Ukrainian waters following a U.S.-led drill, called Sea Breeze, in which Ukraine took part. Theirpurpose this week, however, is more symbolic. The NATO liaison officer in Ukraine, Alexander Vinnikov, has officially gone aboard the visiting vessels, whichwill be open to Ukrainians who want to get better acquainted with the navies of Kievs western partners.

Russia has repeatedly objected to nonregional forces entering the Black Sea, taking particular issue with U.S. Navy vessels.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine are high, as violence between government loyalists and Russian-backed separatist troops in eastern Ukraine flares up every year around August.

Ukraines president, Petro Poroshenko, warned on Sunday during a call with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France that Ukraine was entering the bloodiest outburst of 2017.Nine Ukrainian soldiers had died in the previous 72 hours.

The new U.S. envoy to the Ukraine ceasefire talks, Kurt Volker, said on Monday that he was astonished by the frail state of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and said the conflict resembled a hot war.

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NATO Shows Ukraine Support at Sea, But War in East Turns Bloody - Newsweek