The Czech Defense Ministry said on Wednesday it plans to buy 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks from Germany in a $167 million deal that’s part of a major modernization of the country’s military amid Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The choice of Whitaker as the nation’s representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is as a lawyer and not in foreign policy.

Ukrainian companies at the annual U.N. climate talks are lobbying governments for investment in renewables. Unlike coal-fired plants and other centralized systems, with wind and solar installations, each turbine or panel separately generates electricity. If some go down, others continue working.

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit India for the first time since he ordered the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a further sign of that U.S.-led efforts to isolate him on the world stage are failing.

Russia’s FSB says it arrested a German national it accused of planning to sabotage energy facilities in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on orders from a Ukrainian national. It also alleged the man was involved in an explosion at a gas distribution station in Kaliningrad in March.

Russia said it’s prepared to discuss a potential cease-fire in Ukraine with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, even as the conflict intensifies on all fronts with the warring sides seeking to strengthen their hands ahead of any talks.

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said it would stay closed Wednesday after receiving a warning of a potentially significant Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky warned about North Korea’s growing military role in Russia, saying Kim Jong Un’s troops are learning battlefield lessons that will pose a challenge for the United States and its Asian allies.