UKRAINE – The Russian army continues to bomb urban areas in Ukraine, although the Ukrainian forces have recaptured a city in the northwest, some 50 km from Sumi. To cut its losses, the Russians are resorting to long-rage artillery fire. Mariupol, Kharkiv and Chernihiv are still under siege and have suffered considerable losses. The city close to Chernobyl, home to the staff working at the nuclear plant, has been captured by the Russian army. Russia and Ukraine on Sunday agreed to create two „humanitarian corridors” to evacuate the civilian population from the first line of fire, also allowing the population of Mariupol to evacuate the city using their private cars, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk announced. The population of Mariupol and Rubezny will be evacuated towards Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut. According to the mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, 50% of the city’s population has been evacuated. Some 60,000 people fled via the humanitarian corridor to other areas in Ukraine, while another 30,000 were forcefully deported to areas under Russian control or to Russia. Several thousands of protesters, mostly Russians, gathered on Saturday in Prague to condemn the military offensive of president Vladimir Putin and to call a stop to the war, AFP reports.
CONVOY – A French humanitarian convoy delivering intervention vehicles and medical supplies arrived on Sunday in the humanitarian hub in Suceva, northern Romania, from where it will be taken over by the Ukrainian side and transported to Chernivtsi, Ukraine. The convoy includes 100 French firefighters and rapid response workers, 11 fire trucks, 16 intervention vehicles and 23 trucks carrying 49 tons of medical and rescue supplies. Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania on Saturday, the Border Police reports. So far, over 500 thousand Ukrainian refugees have entered Romania, of whom only 4,300 have filed for asylum. The Government announced it can accommodate 400 thousand refugees.
VISIT – EU Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, is paying an official visit to Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday. The EU official will meet president Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and other Romanian officials. Talks will focus on economic prospects and the situation in Romania, a mother after the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. On Monday, Commissioner Gentiloni will visit a center of the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, while on Tuesday we will give an opening speech at an economic debate.
(Radio Romania International)
