Category: Євросоюз

Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin Thursday expressed their approval for joining NATO, a move that would complete a major policy shift for the country in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance,” they said in a joint statement. “Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.” The leaders said they came to their decision after allowing time for …

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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine. The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT: 4:08 a.m.: Al Jazeera reports that the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv is cutting its “sister city” ties with a host of Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. 3:33 a.m.: The Associated Press has the story of a 14-year-old Ukrainian boy who says Russian soldiers shot and killed his father and tried to kill him as well. His story comes out amid an investigation into possible war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine. 3:17 a.m.: Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto …

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As he listened to his father die, the boy lay still on the asphalt. His elbow burned where a bullet had pierced him. His thumb stung from being grazed. Another killing was in progress on a lonely street in Bucha, the community on the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, where bodies of civilians are still being discovered weeks after Russian soldiers withdrew. Many have been shot in the head. Fourteen-year-old Yura Nechyporenko was about to become one of them. Survivors have described soldiers firing guns near their feet or threatening them with grenades, only to be drawn away by a …

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Finland and Sweden are expected to apply for NATO membership in the coming days, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As Henry Ridgwell reports from Taipalsaari, close to the border, Russia’s actions have particular historical resonance in Finland. …

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Iran’s intelligence ministry said on Wednesday it arrested two European nationals for allegedly fomenting “insecurity” in the country, state media reported, as the EU pushes to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. The pair were accused of “organizing chaos and social disorder aimed at destabilizing [Iran]” in conjunction with foreign intelligence services, state TV cited the ministry as saying, without revealing their nationalities. The arrests coincided with a visit to Tehran by the European Union’s Iran nuclear talks coordinator, Enrique Mora, who held talks with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Bagheri Kani, according to Iranian media. Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian …

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Ninety-nine-year-old Unto Hakuli and his fellow veteran and friend Tapio Niemi, 94, still live among the forests and frozen lakes of Finland’s border region, where they fought invading Russian soldiers more than 80 years ago. The bravery and skill of the defenders in what is known as the Winter War is feted far beyond Finland’s borders. Soviet forces invaded on Nov. 30, 1939. Despite outnumbering and outgunning Finnish soldiers, they suffered heavy losses amid the unforgiving Nordic winter. Invasion Niemi recalls the day of the invasion. “It was a really scary situation for a little boy. I was 12 and …

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The fight for Ukraine played out beyond the battlefields on Wednesday, with Kyiv cutting off one Russian natural gas pipeline that supplies European homes and industry, while a Moscow-installed official in southern Ukraine said the Kremlin should annex Kherson after Russian troops took control.   Ukraine’s natural gas pipeline operator said it was stopping Russian shipments through a hub in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists because of interference from enemy forces, including the apparent siphoning of gas.   About one-third of Russian gas headed to western Europe passes through Ukraine, although one analyst said the immediate effect might be …

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Five years ago, France’s Emmanuel Macron saw big when it came to Africa. Days after his presidential inauguration, he flew to northeastern Mali, meeting with French troops and vowing, alongside his Malian counterpart, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, to wage an “uncompromising fight” against Islamist terrorism. A few months later in another Sahel country, nearby Burkina Faso, he laid another pillar of his Africa strategy based on a “rupture” of traditional French-Africa relations. France’s 39-year-old leader told students from the University of Ouagadougou he was “from a generation that doesn’t come to tell Africans what to do.” Today, the Sahel insurgency is …

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Mozambique has been battered by five tropical storms along its northern coastal areas since the start of this year. Tens of thousands of families have been affected, including refugees and people internally displaced by ongoing violence in the oil-rich province of Cabo Delgado. The last storm, Tropical Cyclone Gombe, made landfall on March 11. It affected some 736,000 people, including tens of thousands of refugees, asylum-seekers and the communities hosting them. Grainne OHara, the Division of International Protection for the U.N. refugee agency, recently participated in a high-level mission to Mozambique to view the impact of the climate disasters and …

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For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine. The latest developments in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. All times EDT: 3:30 a.m. – Since Russia invaded Ukraine, more than 100 women have given birth in the basement delivery room of a maternity hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, The Associated Press reports. About 200 pregnant women displaced by Russia’s invasion have come to the hospital since the war began. They come from some of the communities the world now knows by name: Mariupol, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kyiv. The AP has the story.   2:30 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy …

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The U.S. House of Representatives approved more than $40 billion more aid for Ukraine on Tuesday, as Congress races to keep military aid flowing and boost the government in Kyiv as it grapples with the Russian invasion. The House passed the Ukraine spending bill by 368 to 57, with every ‘no’ vote coming from Republicans. The measure now heads to the Senate, which is expected to act quickly. President Joe Biden had asked Congress to approve an additional $33 billion in aid for Ukraine two weeks ago, but lawmakers decided to increase the military and humanitarian funding. “This bill will …

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The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on an aid package worth more than $40 billion for Ukraine on Tuesday night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, as Congress races to avoid an interruption in defense assistance and boost the government in Kyiv.  The legislation is expected to pass the House and head to the Senate within the coming days, as Washington increases its support for Ukraine without sending troops to help fend off Russian troops who invaded on Feb. 24.  Biden asked Congress to approve an additional $33 billion in aid for Ukraine late last month, but lawmakers decided to …

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Ankara is increasing pressure on Russia’s military presence in Syria with its decision to close its airspace until July to Russian civilian and military planes carrying troops to Syria. Ankara gave no official reason for the move. While Ankara and Moscow back rival sides in the Syrian civil war, they have been cooperating in resolving the conflict. Huseyin Bagci, head of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara, said the action comes as Turkey’s shared opposition with its western allies towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the basis for Ankara to repair its strained relations with Washington and its NATO …

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Britain’s heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and Prince William took center stage amid the pomp and pageantry of the opening of parliament on Tuesday, replacing the 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth who missed the grand set-piece event with health issues. With the queen forced to withdraw for the first time in almost 60 years, Charles stepped in to read out the government’s legislative agenda at the Palace of Westminster, the first time he has taken on such a major constitutional duty. The queen, the world’s oldest and longest-reigning monarch, has been absent from nearly all high-profile public events in recent months. She was forced …

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The program will allow Ukraine to more efficiently request weapons against Russia, just as the Lend Lease Act of 1941 helped US allies defeat Nazi Germany …

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U.S. lawmakers could vote as soon as Tuesday on a bill authorizing at least $33 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Ahead of the possible vote in the House of Representatives, President Joe Biden said his administration has “nearly exhausted” his authority to send weapons and other military equipment from Pentagon stockpiles. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a similar appeal in a letter to lawmakers, urging them to act before May 19 when they expect the existing drawdown will run out. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that while the new …

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Congressional Democrats are preparing a plan that would boost President Joe Biden’s requested $33 billion Ukraine aid package to nearly $40 billion, and a House vote is possible as soon as Tuesday, two people familiar with lawmakers’ thinking said. In a retreat, Biden conceded that the package should not contain any of the additional billions he’s requested to combat COVID-19. Republicans, whose backing would be crucial to pushing legislation through the evenly divided Senate, have opposed adding that money to the Ukraine aid. “We cannot afford delay in this vital war effort,” Biden said in a written statement. “Hence, I …

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Both countries say Russia’s nuclear threats require collective self-defense, upending decades of nonaligned status …

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As Russia’s Vladimir Putin defended his war in Ukraine Monday, a top European Union official visited Ukraine, while France floated a possible new political alliance for Kyiv and other EU hopefuls. It seemed like two different May 9ths Monday. In Moscow, a bellicose speech by Putin as Russia marked the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany, 77 years ago. And in Strasbourg, France, the commemoration of Europe Day — and the foundation of the European Union, which has gained new attention with the war in Ukraine. Speaking before the European Parliament, President Emmanuel Macron of France — the EU’s current …

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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the potential for Russia’s war in Ukraine to spread, during a visit to Moldova’s capital Monday.  “The impact of the war in Ukraine across the region and the world is profound and far-reaching; the consequences of escalation are too frightening to contemplate,” Guterres said during a joint news conference with Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita in Chisinau.   “I am deeply concerned about the continuation and possible spread of the war Russia is waging in Ukraine, and by the impact it is having not only in the region but around the world,” the U.N. …

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