UKRAINE The European Parliament, which convened
\non Tuesday in a special session devoted to the situation in Ukraine, endorsed a
\nresolution ‘inviting the EU institutions to take action in order to grant
\nUkraine the status of candidate to joining the EU. The resolution firmly
\ncondemns the illegal invasion of Ukraine and calls on Moscow to cease all its
\nmilitary actions in Ukraine. The MEPs have reminded Russia its international
\nobligations and caution against the danger of nuclear escalation. Ukrainian
\npresident Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday called on the European Union to prove
\nthat it is on Ukraine’s side in this war against Russia, a day after the
\ncountry had officially applied for joining the bloc. According to Zelensky,
\nUkraine fights to be a fully-fledged member in Europe. The president of the
\nEuropean Council, Charles Michel says the Union will have to seriously analyze
\nUkraine’s application. ‘It is not only Ukraine that is under attack.
\nInternational law, rules-based international order, democracy and human dignity
\nare also under attack. This is geopolitical terrorism, pure and simple’, the EU
\nofficial went on to say. NATO’s
\nChief Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia on Tuesday to end the war in Ukraine
\nand withdraw all its forces. The NATO official has also said that the alliance
\nwill not send troops or jet fighters to support Ukraine, as it doesn’t want to
\nbecome part of the conflict. The G7 finance ministers on Tuesday tackled fresh
\nsanctions against Russia, which is already under a series of measures seriously
\naffecting its economy. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, Russia isn’t
\noccupying Ukraine, but the West is using the Ukrainian people against Moscow. The
\nRussian army on Tuesday carried on its actions against Ukraine’s main cities,
\nKiev, Kharkiv and Mariupol. <\/p>\n
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COVID-19
\nRomania on Tuesday reported almost 8,500 new Covid infections and 164 related
\nfatalities, including four from an earlier date. The incidence rate in Bucharest dropped to 22
\ncases per 1,000 inhabitants, while fewer than 1,000 Covid patients are in
\nintensive care around the country. The vaccine uptake is still low, with only
\n4,500 people receiving the vaccine in the last 24 hours. The health ministry
\nhas proposed lifting a series of restrictions, following a constant drop in all
\nrelevant indicators, health minister Alexandru Rafila said on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
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DRILL Almost 900 Romanian and American soldiers and over 70 pieces
\nof military hardware will be training together between 2nd and 10th
\nMarch at the Secondary Combat Training Centre for Romanian Land Forces in
\nSm\u00e2rdan, in the south-east of Romania, as part of the Justice Eagle 22.1
\nexercise. The drill is based on an imaginary scenario adjusted for possible
\noperational threats and it involves T-55 tanks, the TAB-77 wheeled amphibious
\narmoured personnel carriers, Bradley armoured fighting vehicles and Stryker
\ninfantry carrier vehicles, the Romanian defence ministry said in a statement.
\nThe Justice Eagle multinational exercise is held annually in Romania and is
\ndesigned to increase interoperability among NATO forces and maintain the
\nability to deploy and train together. The US military participating in the
\nexercise form part of the detachments deployed in Romania as part of measures
\nto strengthen tallies posture on the entire NATO eastern flank. <\/p>\n
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CSAT Speaking before the country’s Higher Defence
\nCouncil on Tuesday, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis again condemned Russia’s
\nbrutal attack against Ukraine, a sovereign and independent state. Iohannis said
\nthe we cannot accept for the map of Europe to be redrawn through violence.
\nAccording to the Romanian official, Russia’s aggression has caused an
\nunprecedented reaction of solidarity and Romania’s EU and NATO membership, as
\nwell as its strategic partnership with the USA have been the country’s main
\nachievements in the past 30 years. Iohannis says that Romania needs to increase
\nits defence capabilities and for this reason 2.5 % of the country’s GDP will be
\nearmarked to defence. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
(bill)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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