BERLIN — President Joe Biden leaves Thursday for what is likely to be his final trip as president to Europe, where Germany will bestow its highest honor on him for spearheading global efforts to protect Ukraine as European leaders strategize for a potential future in which the United States could be less engaged in the transatlantic alliance.

U.S. President Joe Biden takes off for Berlin on Thursday for a rapid visit to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine with the leaders of Germany, France and Britain as Kyiv urges its western allies to take urgent steps to end the fighting.

Australia will give 49 of its aging M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday that his government is giving Ukraine most of its American-made M1A1 tanks, which are valued at $163 million.

Conroy provides more detail on donation of 49 Abram tanks to Ukraine The defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, has been speaking with ABC RN following the announcement Australia would donate 49 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

Australia is set to transfer nearly 50 American-made M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

Ukraine says North Korean military engineers have been sent to Russia to check how well missiles are launching.

Russia's ties with North Korea have grown since the start of the Ukraine war on February 24, 2022, particularly as Moscow faces increasing international isolation. In March, Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution, effectively ending international monitoring of sanctions against North Korea.

Ukraine called on its allies on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang after it said North Korea had become a de facto participant in the war in Ukraine on Russia's side. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told parliament in a speech to outline his victory plan that his spy services had confirmed North Korea's supply of both weapons and people to Russia,

Ukraine is asking for a NATO membership invitation before Joe Biden leaves the White House, arguing it would be a fitting legacy for the U.S. president, a senior Ukrainian diplomat said. "Our idea is that giving Ukraine (an) invitation at this moment is a political signal,

"We are not at the stage where the Alliance is discussing issuing an invitation in the short term," Smith said ahead of a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels, Voice of America reported.

NATO defence ministers will be discussing the "victory plan" outlined by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky during two-day talks starting Thursday in Brussels, the alliance's chief Mark Rutte said. Rutte told reporters on the eve of the talks that "clearly" allies were discussing the plan which calls for ramped-up Western backing including an invitation to join NATO,