The European Union will dedicate most of a massive new loan program to Ukraine's military needs over the next two years while also injecting billions into its war-ravaged economy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.

EU leaders agreed last month to loan Ukraine 90 billion euros ($105 billion) to help cover its needs in 2026 and 2027. Kyiv would only have to pay the money back once Russia ends its war and pays reparations for the damage it has inflicted over almost four years.

Britain's government is expected to approve a "mega" Chinese Embassy close to London's financial district after years of controversy and political wrangling over the potential security risks it poses to the U.K.

Lawmakers from across the spectrum have urged planning officials to reject China's application for the new embassy. Critics fear the proposed new building, on a huge site close to London's financial district and crucial data cables, will be used as a base for espionage. Others say the supersized embassy — set to be the biggest Chinese Embassy in Europe — will pose a heightened threat of surveillance and intimidation to Chinese dissidents in exile.

Russia launched a second major drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in four days, officials said, aiming again at the power grid amid freezing temperatures in an apparent snub to U.S.-led peace efforts as Moscow's invasion of its neighbor approaches the four-year mark.

Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.

Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Greenland's capital, international journalists and camera crews stop passersby every few meters (feet) asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark's prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.

Greenland is at the center of a geopolitical storm as U.S. President Donald Trump is insisting he wants to own the island — and the residents of its capital Nuuk say it is not for sale. Trump said he wants to control Greenland at any cost and the White House has not ruled out taking the island by force.

The head of Iran's judiciary signaled Wednesday there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained in nationwide protests despite a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The comments from Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon. Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,571, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Iranians should continue nationwide protests and take over the country's institutions as authorities there cracked down on mass demonstrations.

"Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Greenland's prime minister said Tuesday that the autonomous territory would choose to remain Danish rather than become part of the United States, following U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to take over the Arctic island.

"We are now facing a geopolitical crisis, and if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark," Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a press conference in Copenhagen.

Iranians have found themselves without email, texts and foreign apps for days, with even landline phone calls unreliable under a digital blackout imposed by authorities in the face of widespread protests.

France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday he had summoned the Iranian ambassador to object to what he described as "state violence unquestioningly unleashed on peaceful protesters" in Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 25-percent tariff on any country doing business with Iran, ramping up pressure as a rights group estimated a crackdown on protests has killed at least 648 people.