May 6, 2022

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 06.05.2022, 13:55

Romania-Lithuania.
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis today received his counterpart from
Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda, who made
an official visit to Bucharest. The two presidents discussed the situation in
Ukraine, among other topics, with Iohannis saying Romania supports the
sanctions against Russia and that peace talks should aim at the restoration of
Ukraine’s territorial integrity. He also announced that, together with France
and Germany, Romania will host a new donors’ conference for the Republic of
Moldova and invited Lithuania to become involved. The Lithuanian president
emphasised the importance of his country’s collaboration with Romania to
strengthen the NATO eastern flank and said he would tomorrow travel to Moldova,
the state with the largest number of Ukrainian refugees per population size.

First
Lady visit. United States First Lady Jill Biden is today travelling to Romania.
Today, she is visiting the Mihail
Kogălniceanu air base in Romania, where she will meet U.S. and NATO
military. On Saturday, she is in Bucharest for talks with Romania’s First Lady
Carmen Iohannis, to express gratitude for Romania’s generosity and support for
Ukrainian refugees. Dr. Biden will also visit a public school in Bucharest that
is hosting Ukrainian refugee students before flying to Slovakia, which, like
Romania, is neighbouring Ukraine, having taken in many Ukrainian refugees and
helping Kyiv resist the Russian invasion.

Ukraine. The Russian forces have destroyed and
damaged hundreds of Ukrainian medical facilities, says Kyiv. Ukraine’s
president Volodymyr Zelensky said the situation is disastrous in the areas
occupied by the Russians, with shortages of medicine for cancer patients,
insulin for diabetics and even antibiotics, leaving doctors unable to perform
surgeries. The Kremlin says its forces are only aiming at military targets,
despite on-site evidence that many civilian buildings have been shelled. 32
residential buildings were hit on Thursday in Kramatorsk, with 25 people injured. Meanwhile,
Ukrainian forces are still putting up a fierce resistance at the Azovstal steel
works, the last Ukrainian stronghold in the port-city of Mariupol, despite
intense bombardment and shortages of water, food and medicine. Some 200 civilians
are also sheltering in the plant’s underground tunnels. Moscow says they can
leave the plant through humanitarian corridors, but Ukraine says evacuations
are hindered by the heavy fighting. A new attempt is made today to evacuate
civilians from Mariupol.

Survey. A flash Eurobarometer survey
carried out in all EU member states shows the vast majority of EU citizens
approve of Brussels’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and believe that
Ukraine is part of the European family. Romanians also believe that the EU has
shown solidarity with Ukraine, with 82% saying they are pleased with the
response of their fellow nationals.

Support.
The government in Bucharest today met to approve new measures included in its
Support for Romania programme. Aid worth some 60 million euros will be granted
in four economic sectors, namely the food industry, aquaculture, fishing and
agriculture, said the ministers for investment and European projects. Vouchers
worth some 50 euros will also be granted to persons with low incomes every two
months, until the end of the year. Eligible for the vouchers are persons with
pensions below 320 euros a month, persons with disabilities, families with at
least two children and single parents with a net monthly income of some 120
euros or below per family member, and homeless persons. Around 3.2 million
euros will benefit from this form of aid, funding for which will be covered by
the state budget and non-reimbursable European funds. (CM)