Live Updates | NATO, Ukraine hold new high-level talks under new council aimed to tighten ties

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO and Ukraine are holding their first ever high-level talks in a new format. The 31-nation alliance has launched a NATO-Ukraine Council despite refusing to let Ukraine become an alliance member while the war with Russia is going on. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the council is a forum where Ukraine and NATO will “meet as equals,” hold crisis consultations and jointly take decisions. Hungary has blocked high-level talks with Ukraine in the past due to concerns over the rights of the ethnic Hungarian minority living in Ukraine. But Stoltenberg said he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy can convene the NATO-Ukraine Council, so it cannot be blocked.