NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says a US peace proposal has helped bring Kyiv and Washington closer together on the way toward ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, Europe's biggest and deadliest conflict since World War II.

President Donald Trump designated Saudi Arabia as a Major Non- NATO Ally (MNNA) of the United States during a high-stake visit by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman to Washington D.C. last week, making the kingdom the 20th country to hold the status, a powerful symbol of close relations.

NATO’s Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) has signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Google Cloud to enable it access to sovereign cloud capabilities amid the organization’s digital modernization efforts.

While the U.S. has taken part in previous iterations of the military exercise, this year's U.S. footprint was smaller as allied nations are pressed by the Trump administration to put more into European defense.

NATO nations pledged in June to raise “core” defense spending to 3.5 percent of their GDP, which would be funneled into buying new military equipment and other capabilities. Another 1.5 percent would be earmarked for defense-related spending, such as infrastructure the armed forces may need to use.

BRUSSELS, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Europeans have submitted a modified version of the United States' peace plan for Ukraine that pushes back on proposed limits to Kyiv's armed forces and territorial concessions, according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.

Ukraine and its European allies will insist that discussions with Russia on any territorial swaps can only take place once the war ceases along the current line of contact, according to people familiar with a counter-proposal that will be presented to the US later today in Switzerland.

"It’s very easy to draw the wrong conclusions from the war in Ukraine," Drummond said, referring to slow progress on the front line, adding that a future conflict with a reconstituted Russian armed forces would be "fast paced" with a greater use of air power in the opening weeks.

President Trump said Tuesday he will designate Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, marking a step up in defense ties between the U.S. and the Gulf monarchy.

Business Insider observed US, Polish, and Romanian forces learning to use the Merops system, which has been combat-proven in Ukraine.