Loan – The Bucharest government approved, on Wednesday, a draft law on the ratification of the Loan Agreement between Romania and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) worth 600 million euros and the Agreement on non-reimbursable financial assistance between Romania and the IBRD in the amount of 24 million dollars, the Government spokesperson Dan Cărbunaru has announced. The money will be used for the reforms provided for in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and for the management of the current humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, in the fields of health, education and social assistance. Also on Wednesday, the Executive approved the allocation from the intervention fund of 9.5 million lei (almost 2 million euros) for the emergency implementation of dredging operations in the Danube River and other specific works needed to manage the risk situation caused by drought.
G7 – The G7 foreign ministers call on Russia to immediately transfer the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, to Ukraine. The G7 communiqué reads that Ukrainian technicians at the plant must be able to perform their duties without threats and pressure, appreciating that, by exercising continuous control over the nuclear plant, Russia endangers the region. The situation in the area of the plant remains tense. The Ukrainian authorities claim that the Russians bombed, at dawn, a locality that is on the bank of the Dnipro, right across the nuclear power plant, causing the death of 13 civilians. Also in the south of Ukraine, in the Kherson region, occupied by Russia, the Russian military began to evacuate families, fearing that the situation will worsen, especially since the Ukrainian army attacked two strategic bridges over the Dnieper. According to the Radio Romania correspondent, the Ukrainian regional administration of Kherson has announced that the Russian provisional administration of the region is speeding up preparations for the referendum on the region’s independence from Ukraine.
