BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas pushed back on Wednesday against Donald Trump for saying that Europe lagged behind the U.S. in aid for Ukraine, and insisted the bloc must have a seat at the table when the time comes for peace talks.

The EU has chosen PriceWaterhouseCoopers and a Slovak software company to develop a 9 million euro ($9.4 million) joint purchasing platform for critical minerals and energy, according to a European Commission source and a document seen by Reuters.

Russian prime minister has threatened to pull Slovakia from the EU and NATO, arguing such alliances could soon only exist in "the history books".

The EU's top diplomat and Poland's prime minister said Wednesday that the bloc must heed US President Donald Trump's demand to spend much more on defence -- faced with the "existential threat" posed by Russia.

Russia is posing an existential threat to the European Union's security and to only way to address that is to increase spending on defence, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday, adding that the EU had for too long offered Russia alternatives.

"It is necessary to have a constructive attitude of dialogue, but also naturally in defence of what is the interest of Europe and its member states," he said, adding that protectionism would only harm consumers in the countries or blocs that were raising tarriffs.

Slovakia’s pro-Russian prime minister has raised the prospect of his country leaving the European Union and Nato, arguing that world events could consign them to the “history books”.

Energy company Drax lobbied Canadian officials for their intervention as the UK group sought changes to EU rules that could prevent the bloc from burning wood biomass sourced from forests in British Columbia.

The European Commission wants to dissuade innovative start-up firms from moving to the U.S. to grow by creating rules that would allow them to easily operate across the 27-nation European Union, the head of the Commission said on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump has given everyone at Davos something to talk about with his actions on the first day of his second term