\n
<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Romania’s Supreme
<\/p>\n Ukraine. <\/strong>The Russian army continued attacks on
<\/p>\n
European MEPs <\/strong>met in an extraordinary
<\/p>\n
Exercise. <\/strong>Almost 900 Romanian and American soldiers and
<\/p>\n
Covid-19. <\/strong>Romania today reported almost 8,500
<\/p>\n
M\u0103r\u021bi\u0219or.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A roundup of local and international news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[28905],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-ukraine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nDefence Council <\/strong>chaired by president Klaus Iohannis met today to discuss the situation
\nin Ukraine. Speaking after the meeting, president Iohannis said the Council decided
\nto boost efforts aimed at consolidating the defence and deterrence posture on
\nthe NATO eastern flank through the deployment of allied forces and speeding up
\nthe creation of a NATO battlegroup in Romania. The Council also decided on measures
\nto support the Republic of Moldova, which is faced with a growing number of
\nrefugees from Ukraine. A logistical hub will also be set up in Romania to
\ncoordinate collection and transport of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The president
\nsaid the Council agreed on two strategic objectives for Romania: increasing defence
\nspending from 2% to 2.5% of GDP and achieving energy independence by developing
\nrenewable and civilian nuclear energy capabilities.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nUkrainian capital Kyiv, where resistance is still strong. Kharkiv, in the east,
\nUkraine’s second largest city was also heavily hit. Ukraine’s president
\nVolodymyr Zelensky described the strikes on Kharkiv, in which dozens of
\ncivilians were reportedly killed, as a war crime. He said there are eyewitness
\nreports of civilians being deliberately targeted during the attack. Acoording
\nto satellite images, a huge convoy of Russian armour stretching on dozens of
\nkms is advancing towards Kyiv from the north. The images also show deployments
\nof troops and equipment in southern Belarus, less than 32 km north of the
\nborder with Ukraine. Kyiv also confirmed an attack on the southern city of
\nKherson.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nsession of the European Parliament to discuss a response to Russia’s invasion.
\nThe meeting was called last Thursday by European Parliament speaker Roberta
\nMetsola and the leaders of the political groups in Parliament, who firmly
\ncondemned the attack on Ukraine, describing it as unjustified and illegal. On
\nMonday, US president Joe Biden held a new conference call with allies and
\npartners on a unified response to the Ukraine crisis. Joining the call for the
\nfirst time was the prime minister of Japan, as well as EU and NATO leaders, the
\nprime ministers of the UK and Canada, the German chancellor and the presidents
\nof France, Poland and Romania. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis called for the
\nspeeding up of the creation of a NATO battlegroup in Romania as a means of
\nconsolidating NATO’s defence and deterrence posture in the region. Monday also
\nsaw the first face-to-face meeting between Ukrainian and Russian officials,
\nheld on Belarusian border and which ended inconclusively, with a new round of
\ntalks possibly taking place in the next few days. Russia said it put its
\nnuclear triad on alert duty, while the United States and the European Union
\nsaid they are prepared to adopt additional sanctions against Russia. More than
\n660,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine to the neighbouring
\ncountries in the last six days since the invasion began, the UN refugee agency
\nsaid. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nover 70 pieces of military hardware will be training together between 2nd
\nand 10th March at the Secondary Combat Training
\nCentre for Romanian Land Forces in Sm\u00e2rdan,
\nin the south-east of Romania, as part of the Justice Eagle 22.1 exercise. The
\ndrill is based on an
\nimaginary scenario adjusted for possible operational threats and it involves
\nT-55 tanks, the TAB-77 wheeled amphibious armoured personnel carriers, Bradley
\narmoured fighting vehicles and Stryker infantry carrier vehicles, the Romanian
\ndefence ministry said in a statement. The Justice Eagle multinational exercise
\nis held annually in Romania and is designed to increase interoperability among
\nNATO forces and maintain the ability to deploy and train together. The US
\nmilitary participating in the exercise form part of the detachments deployed in
\nRomania as part of measures to strengthen allied posture on the entire NATO
\neastern flank. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nnew Covid infections and 164 related fatalities, including four from an earlier
\ndate. The incidence rate in Bucharest
\ndropped to 22 cases per 1,000 inhabitants, while fewer than 1,000 Covid
\npatients are in intensive care around the country. The vaccine uptake is still
\nlow, with only 4,500 people receiving the vaccine in the last 24 hours. The
\nhealth ministry has proposed lifting a series of restrictions, following a
\nconstant drop in all relevant indicators, health minister Alexandru Rafila said
\ntoday. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nRomanians are today celebrating the arrival of spring, with girls and
\nwomen being gifted m\u0103r\u021bi\u0219or, small
\nbroche-like objects tied to a red and white string and worn on coats in the
\nfirst days of spring. The practice was included in the UNESCO intangible
\ncultural heritage list five years ago at the proposal of Romania, the Republic
\nof Moldova, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, where the practice is widespread,
\nwith some variations: in the Republic of Moldova, for example, it’s the women
\nand girls who are gifting the m\u0103r\u021bi\u0219or to men and boys. These artefacts, many
\nof which are handmade, are to be found for sale
\naround this time of the year in many shops and at artisan fairs. The are
\nbelieved to provide the wearer with protection against a variety of perils and
\nmost commonly depict the chimney sweep, a four-leaf clove, a horse shoe,
\nflowers and various animals. (CM)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n