AKIPRESS.COM - European leaders have named the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, as the next EU president and Italian foreign minister Federica Mogherini to head its diplomatic service, as the bloc faces a series of challenges topped by Ukraine.

Tusk, who speaks only halting English and no French, is the first eastern European to hold such a senior post in the EU and is known as a tough critic of the Kremlin, especially over the Ukraine crisis.

The appointments were announced on Saturday after a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.