Newsflash RRI – August 20

Ukraine – Ukraine will receive 42 F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands and Denmark, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday. The US, which produces the devices, has agreed to their transfer to the Ukrainian army. The Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that one of the conditions for the delivery of the aircraft is the successful completion of the military training and the testing of the Ukrainian personnel who will operate them. He also said that training will begin soon and will last at least six months. On Sunday, Zelenski visited the Eindhoven military base in the Netherlands, in the south of the country, to discuss the delivery of F-16 aircraft with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Borders – The number of people who entered Romania through the Isaccea border crossing point, located on the eastern border with Ukraine, doubled, after Russia began the attack on the Ukrainian ports on the Danube, on July 24. In the last month, about 41,000 people entered Romania through Isaccea cross-border point, compared to almost 26,000 in the same period last year. The Romanian Coast Guard reported that these figures are mainly caused by the doubling of ferry transport capacity across the Danube. According to it, if in 2022 ferry rides from one country to another took place every three hours, in this period the rides are at an interval of one and a half hours. At the same time, freight transport through Isaccea increased significantly compared to the same period last year.

Working meeting – The heads of state and government from South-Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, including the Prime Minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, will participate tomorrow, in Athens, in a working meeting organized at the initiative of Greece. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, will participate in the discussions. The Romanian government says that the discussions will focus on the development of regional cooperation in South-Eastern Europe, as well as on the challenges raised by the developments of the conflict in Ukraine on the states participating in the dialogue in Athens.