The Latest Breaking News from Ints Kalnins

(This Jan.19 story has been officially corrected to say that 9 countries were involved, not 11, in the first paragraph; removes Germany and Spain from paragraph 3, after Estonia revised its statement)

A new U.S. weapons package for Ukraine will include about 50 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, two U.S. officials said on Thursday, with one of the officials saying the package will be worth roughly $2.8 billion.

Latvia may have to increase it defence spending and introduce compulsory military service for its citizens regardless of their gender to contain any possible security risks arising from Russia, President Egils Levits told Reuters.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been calling for their region to receive the biggest build-up of combat-ready NATO forces in Europe since the end of the Cold War, to be agreed at a summit on June 28-30 in Madrid.

Early on a Sunday morning fifteen women in rural Estonia listen to an instructor explain the inner workings of rifles and bullets, after spending a freezing night in self-built tents.

The presence of U.S. and other NATO troops in Latvia sends a message to Vladimir Putin that Russia should stay away, Latvian Defence Minister Artis Pabriks said on Friday as he greeted a small deployment of U.S. soldiers.