As European Union leaders met in Brussels on Saturday where they discussed possible new sanctions against Russia and what they described as Russian aggression, a group of peace adovcates headed to South Wales to say "no to new wars, no to NATO."

According to a statement by the UK's Stop the War Coalition, a march and demonstration on Saturday in Newport is the start of a week of actions that will culminate in a counter-summit to NATO's gathering of 60 world leaders.

From the group's statement:

War is the enemy of the poor. The world's 85 richest people have as much as poorest 3.5 billion. The annual sum needed to end world hunger is $30 billion while the US Military's budget is $530 billion per year.

Money into war is money out of our communities. In the UK, 500,000 people had to resort to food banks last year. While public services are slashed, one day of war in Afghanistan could fund 100,000 nurses.

This autumn the powerful will make their voices heard at the NATO summit. We must make sure that the voice of the millions around the world who need peace and justice is also heard.

Follow the hashtag #NotoNATO this week on Twitter to see the events unfold.