March 15, 2022
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 15.03.2022, 13:55
Visit. The Belgian Minister of Defense, Ludivine Dedonder, is in Romania today, where she will visit, together with her Romanian counterpart, Vasile Dîncu, the 57th Air Base in Mihail Kogălniceanu (southeast). Elements of the Belgian detachment, part of the NATO Response Force (NRF) activated by the North Atlantic Council on February 25, arrived in Romania on March 7th. The military convoy joined the French detachment of the NATO Response Force, already deployed at the the 57th Air Base. NATO has activated defense plans to strengthen the command and control of Allied forces and to facilitate the rapid response of military capabilities along the Allied borders. In total, 500 French and 300 Belgian soldiers, part of the ground component of the NATO Response Force, will join the Romanian military in a bid to strengthen the Alliance’s Eastern Flank.
Refugees. EU health ministers meet today in a video conference to coordinate their actions to receive war wounded and chronically ill refugees from Ukraine. The meeting was convened by the French Health Minister Olivier Véran, whose country is holding the six-month presidency of the EU Council. According to Paris, a coordinated and solidarity-based response from the Union to the health consequences of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine is needed, as it is expected that the care capabilities of neighboring countries will soon be exceeded. The priority will be to ensure continuity of medical care for displaced people, as nearly three million Ukrainians have already left the country. The European states bordering Ukraine, including Romania, will be able to present in detail their limits for each type of patient.
Border. The Romanian Border Police has reported that over 66 thousand people entered Romania on Monday, of whom almost 14 thousand Ukrainian citizens, lower by 4.8% compared to the previous day. Since the outbreak of the conflict, 425,786 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania. Most of them transited the country and headed for Western European states.
Ukraine. Almost all of Russia’s advance has been halted for several days, despite sustained bombing, the US State Department said. According to this assessment, the Russians have neither air superiority nor control over some of Ukraine’s major cities. This morning, the center of Kyiv was shaken by several powerful explosions, but it is not clear if it was a Russian attack or the noise from the Ukrainian air defense systems, BBC reports. City residents are preparing for a possible siege. Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing civilians. The head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, has described Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilians as state terrorism. He believes that Russian troops have begun to attack the civilian population and infrastructure to demoralize the Ukrainians. The diplomat called on Russia to engage in dialogue in order to find a peaceful solution. Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia could resume today.
Pristina. A 43-year-old Romanian non-commissioned officer on a mission in Kosovo died on Monday due to medical conditions, the Ministry of National Defense informs. The soldier had been in the Kosovo theater of operations since July 2021, on a KFOR mission, which was to be completed in April. He was a veteran of the theaters of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tennis. The best tennis players in Romania, Simona Halep (26 WTA) and Sorana Cirstea (27WTA), play against each other today, in the round of 16 of WTA 1,000 tournament at Indian Wells, in the States United, with nearly 8.6 million dollars in prize money. Halep, who won the championship in 2015, defeated in two sets the young American player Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff, and Cirstea passed by the Russian Ana Kalinskaia in three sets. Cirstea leads 2-1 in direct meetings with Halep.(MI)
