PARIS, November 22. /TASS/. Defense ministers from the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, France, and Germany will meet in Berlin on November 25, the French defense ministry said.
"On Monday, November 25, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu will travel to Berlin to attend a ministerial meeting in the five-party format involving the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, France, and Germany," the ministry said. The topics on the agenda were not disclosed. However, according to the ministry, the meeting will be followed by a news conference.
The French interior ministry said earlier that an emergency meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council will be held on November 26 following Russia using its new missile against a Ukrainian defense sector facility. They may also discuss potential consequences of strikes inside Russia with Western weapons in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning that Russia could carry out retaliatory strikes against the military facilities of any countries that allow their weapons to be used against Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on November 21 that the United States and its NATO allies had announced their approval of the use of long-range precision weapons. Following this announcement, Russian military sites in the Kursk and Bryansk regions were attacked with American and British missiles. In response, Russia used its newest intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Oreshnik, in a non-nuclear strike targeting Ukraine’s Yuzhmash defense plant in Dnepr (formerly known as Dnepropetrovsk). Putin emphasized that the West’s provocative policies could lead to severe consequences if the conflict continues to escalate.