Romania-Lithuania. Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis today received his counterpart from Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda, who made an official visit to Bucharest. The two presidents discussed the situation in Ukraine, among other topics, with Iohannis saying Romania supports the sanctions against Russia and that peace talks should aim at the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. He also announced that, together with France and Germany, Romania will host a new donors’ conference for the Republic of Moldova and invited Lithuania to become involved. The Lithuanian president emphasised the importance of his country’s collaboration with Romania to strengthen the NATO eastern flank and said he would tomorrow travel to Moldova, the state with the largest number of Ukrainian refugees per population size.
First Lady visit. United States First Lady Jill Biden is today travelling to Romania. Today, she is visiting the Mihail Kogălniceanu air base in Romania, where she will meet U.S. and NATO military. On Saturday, she is in Bucharest for talks with Romania’s First Lady Carmen Iohannis, to express gratitude for Romania’s generosity and support for Ukrainian refugees. Dr. Biden will also visit a public school in Bucharest that is hosting Ukrainian refugee students before flying to Slovakia, which, like Romania, is neighbouring Ukraine, having taken in many Ukrainian refugees and helping Kyiv resist the Russian invasion.
Ukraine. The Russian forces have destroyed and damaged hundreds of Ukrainian medical facilities, says Kyiv. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation is disastrous in the areas occupied by the Russians, with shortages of medicine for cancer patients, insulin for diabetics and even antibiotics, leaving doctors unable to perform surgeries. The Kremlin says its forces are only aiming at military targets, despite on-site evidence that many civilian buildings have been shelled. 32 residential buildings were hit on Thursday in Kramatorsk, with 25 people injured. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are still putting up a fierce resistance at the Azovstal steel works, the last Ukrainian stronghold in the port-city of Mariupol, despite intense bombardment and shortages of water, food and medicine. Some 200 civilians are also sheltering in the plant’s underground tunnels. Moscow says they can leave the plant through humanitarian corridors, but Ukraine says evacuations are hindered by the heavy fighting. A new attempt is made today to evacuate civilians from Mariupol.
Survey. A flash Eurobarometer survey carried out in all EU member states shows the vast majority of EU citizens approve of Brussels’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and believe that Ukraine is part of the European family. Romanians also believe that the EU has shown solidarity with Ukraine, with 82% saying they are pleased with the response of their fellow nationals.
(Radio Romania International)
