Egyik 19

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Europe

Poland
June 1, 2023  Despite a significant cooling of relations due to their different stances on the war in Ukraine, Poland and Hungary remain united in opposing what they see as undue interference from Brussels over reforms that critics say undermine judicial independence. Poland rebuked today the European Parliament backing a resolution that questions Hungary's ability to hold the European Union presidency next year due to concerns about judicial independence. "It is a clear violation of European rules in their most important form, that is treaty rules," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a conference in Moldova. "Destroying the entire way of managing the EU in this way is not only a road to nowhere, but it is a road to the abyss." The resolution, which was approved 442-114 with 33 abstentions, questioned how Hungary could hold the presidency 'in view of incompliance with EU law and the values enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union as well as the principle of sincere cooperation'. According to a calendar agreed by all EU governments in 2016, Hungary is to hold the presidency of the bloc between July and December 2024. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's chief political aide Orbán, who is not related, said on Twitter that Hungary was being "blackmailed by Brussels because of its antiwar position". Hungary has refused to provide any military equipment to its neighbour to help it fight off a Russian invasion, and Hungary has criticised EU sanctions against Moscow. The EU has frozen billions of euros in funds for Budapest and Warsaw 'due to its concerns'. Hungary could receive some 5.8 billion euros in free grants and a further 9.6 billion euros in cheap loans from the EU, but the bloc has suspended any payments 'until Budapest's government implements reforms to improve judicial independence and tackle corruption'. Hungary and Poland have long been at odds with the EU over multiple issues, such as the rule of law, media freedoms and LGBTQ rights. (Source: Reuters)

Slovakia
1 June 2023  Bratislava faced massive cyber-attack during GLOBSEC conference. Electronic systems and parking services were down during an international security conference, GLOBSEC, yesterday, with an anti-NATO group claiming responsibility for the attack. GLOBSEC’s conference covers a range of security topics, including hybrid threats and supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. The massive DDoS cyber-attack disabled city hall’s website in the early morning. Bratislava Mayor Vallo said that no data was breached. The attack also disabled Bratislava’s parking services. As a result, City Hall stopped giving out parking tickets for the day as people could not pay for them. A cyber group claimed responsibility early morning on Twitter. It used #GLOBSEC in its posts, connecting the attack to the conference attended by von der Leyen and Macron, among others. The group also said it was responsible for the cyber-attacks on Hiroshima on the occasion of the G7 summit, which was attended by President Zelenskyy. “We can no longer watch as the US and NATO lead society into WWIII. We are to stop it!" wrote the group earlier in May. (Source: euractiv)

1 June 2023  The EU Commission plans to organise and finance a purchase of firefighting aircraft. In 2022 Europe experienced one of the worst wildfire seasons on record, scorching more than 700,000 hectares of land in more than a dozen countries from June to August. The impact of climate change has made wildfires more catastrophic than ever before and with a larger geographic spread – now commonly appearing in areas of central Europe as well. Last year, the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) under the rescEU scheme had a fleet of 13 firefighting aircraft at its disposal. Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain provided two water bombers each, Sweden provided two air tractors, and Greece provided one helicopter. This year, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Portugal have decided to make their aircraft available as well. In addition, Austria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia pledged to send some 450 firefighters for standby duty in areas at risk from forest fires in France, Greece, and Portugal. Croatia is one of six EU countries that applied to get new firefighting aircraft through the EU Commission’s plan to negotiate a joint purchase of planes. The entire European order is for 22 brand-new aircraft, intended to be used by Mediterranean countries including Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. This includes 12 planes which will be financed entirely by EU funding, with the price of each unit estimated at €52 million. The operational costs of the amphibious firefighting fleet – which includes pilot salaries, fuel costs, and standby duty – are also covered by the European Commission. Although the production of large amphibious Canadian-made Canadair CL-415 water bombers ceased in 2015, the Commission is reportedly negotiating with the Canadian aerospace company De Havilland, which is expected to relaunch production. The production is expected to start in 2026, and the deliveries are reportedly expected in early 2028. (Source: euractiv)

Kosovo
June 01, 2023  North Kosovo crisis persists. The situation in Zvecan, Leposaviq, and Zubin Potok was calm on May 31. On the ground in Zvecan on May 31, members of the NATO-led KFOR protection force put up razor-wire barricades to further secure the area. Kosovo police and KFOR troops have installed barbed-wire barricades around municipal buildings to keep protesters at bay. Mayors of the three towns were sworn in despite a turnout of under 3.5 percent in the April 23 by-elections amid the Serb boycott. The Belgrade-backed Serbian List (Srpska Lista) said the protests will stop only when their demands for the removal of Kosovar Albanian mayors and the withdrawal of special police units from the north are met. Ethnic Serbians gathered again on June 1 in the town of Zvecan, the theater of violent clashes on May 29, but in smaller numbers than in the previous days, amid a vow from the largest Kosovar Serbian party to continue protests over the presence of the mayors elected in a vote boycotted by ethnic Serbs. Serbian structures have been operating in the north of Kosovo since the 1998-99 war that led to Kosovo declaring independence from Serbia in 2008. During a summit taking place in Moldova, European Union leaders are due to discuss the situation in Kosovo on June 1 as part of international efforts to end a crisis that for days has drawn ethnic Serbian demonstrators into the streets of northern towns of the former province of Serbia. The leaders of France and Germany have announced plans to meet with top Serbia and Kosovo officials at the summit. EU foreign policy chief Borrell is expected to meet there with Serbian President Vucic and Kosovar President Osmani. On May 31, Borrell and the EU envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue met Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti on the sidelines of a security conference in Bratislava. Kurti has rejected a demand by the protesters in ethnic Serb-majority northern Kosovo to remove ethnic Albanian mayors whose forced entrance into municipality buildings in three towns in the region triggered a standoff after violent clashes with Kosovar police and KFOR troops. Kurti has insisted that the ethnic Albanian mayors have the legal right to take over municipal buildings in the towns where they were elected. U.S. Secretary of State Blinken reiterated that the Kosovar government's decision to forcefully install the mayors had escalated tensions "sharply and unnecessarily." Kurti and his government "should ensure that elected mayors perform their interim duties from alternative locations, outside municipal buildings, and withdraw police forces from there," Blinken said. Blinken also said Serbian President Vucic and the Serbian government 'should downgrade the security status of the Serbian Armed Forces and call on the Kosovo Serbs to stop defying KFOR and refrain from further violence." NATO said it would send 700 additional soldiers to Kosovo and place another battalion on high alert. (Source: RfeRl)

Moldova
Thursday, 1 Jun 2023  47 European leaders meet in Moldova to discuss war in Ukraine. It is the second gathering of the so-called European Political Community, brainchild of French President Macron, established last year to allow continental leaders to discuss areas of mutual concern, such as migration, energy and cyber security. EU and non-EU leaders meet twice a year to discuss the pressing challenges of the day. Moldova, the small, impoverished country which has a breakaway region of Russian speakers presses for EU accession negotiations to begin. President Zelensky has been invited to attend the meeting, but other regional conflicts, such as those between Kosovo and Serbia and between Armenia and Azerbaijan, will be under the spotlight. In a statement, NATO said it was providing surveillance aircraft to watch the skies over the venue. (Source: RTÉ)

Russia
1/06/2023 Thursday  Ukraine rejected all proposals for ensuring the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant put forward by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) because the country does not have the capacity to make such decisions, senior Russian diplomat Grushko said yesterday. “In this question, as in many others, Ukraine is deprived of legal personality. The leadership of this country fulfills the demands of Washington and London, which, for the sake of political interests, easily sacrifice both people's lives and the safety of nuclear facilities on the European continent,” he said. The diplomat said that Russia will continue to take measures to provide security for the Zaporizhzhia plant. “We have never deployed and do not plan to deploy military contingents and military equipment intended for offensive operations on the territory of the nuclear power plant. There are only those forces at the nuclear power plant that are necessary to protect it from Ukrainian attacks, as well as to eliminate their possible consequences,” he said. Grushko also urged the IAEA to “openly condemn” and disclose information about Ukrainian attacks on the nuclear power plant. “We hope the IAEA’s management will demonstrate the agency’s impartiality and non-involvement in this matter,” he said. (Source: YeniSafak)

01/06/2023  Russia's defence ministry said it had repelled three cross-border attacks today near the town of Shebekino, and it accused Ukraine of using what it said were "terrorist formations" to carry out attempted attacks on Russian civilians. "No violations of the state border were allowed." Russian army units, border guards and units of the Federal Security Service, repelled the first attack at around 0100 GMT as two units with vehicles and tanks tried to penetrate the border near Novaya Tavolzhanka and Shebekino, the defence ministry said, adding there were three attacks from the Ukrainian side. Ukraine says the incursions into Belgorod are conducted by Russian volunteer fighters. Russian officials say the group of fighters is a proxy run by Ukraine. More than 50 Ukrainian fighters were killed and four armoured vehicles were destroyed, the ministry said. It added that up to 70 fighters, five tanks and four armoured vehicles were involved in the attack. (Source: France24)

1 Jun 2023  Shelling of the border region of Russia’s Belgorod is intensifying. Today, one person was reportedly killed and two others were wounded in a strike on a centre for displaced people in Belgorod. “We have not heard a single word of condemnation from the West so far,” Kremlin spokesman Peskov said of the attacks which have affected Russian civilians in the region. The Kremlin also said yesterday that it was not considering the introduction of martial law in Russia despite the drone attacks on Moscow and the ongoing shelling of border regions. The Kremlin’s Peskov said the imposition of martial law in Russia was not currently being discussed. According to media reports, Peskov was reacting to Chechen leader Kadyrov’s demands for harsher attacks on  Ukraine and the declaration of martial law after the drone attacks on Moscow. Peskov said such a decision was up to Moscow and not the regions. “Measures are being taken,” Peskov said. Authorities have begun evacuating children from the districts of Shebekino and Graivoron. Governor of Russia's Belgorod region said that the situation in Shebekino was deteriorating amid ongoing cross-border attacks from Ukraine. Evacuation of children from the Shebekinsky and Grayvoronsky districts of the Belgorod region was set to begin on 31 May. The first group of 300  people will be sent to the city of Voronezh, a city about 250km further into Russia. Buses had arrived with about 150 people on board yesterday. Another 1,000 children will be removed from border areas to other provinces over the coming days, he said. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), DC-based think tank, said in its latest report today that Russian military commanders had likely ordered the Chechens into battle following the withdrawal of Wagner Group mercenary forces from the destroyed city of Bakhmut. According to the ISW, Kadyrov claimed  yesterday that his forces had received new orders and would be deploying to “active combat activities” to “liberate” a series of settlements after assuming responsibility for the front line in Ukraine’s southeast Donetsk region, which includes the contested city of Bakhmut. Chechen fighters have primarily operated in areas behind the front line following their involvement in the bloody battles in Ukraine’s cities of Mariupol, Severodonetsk and Lysychanak, the institute said. Describing himself as a “foot soldier” of Russian President Putin, Kadyrov had previously deployed his Chechen forces in support of Russian military operations in Syria and Georgia. The ISW also noted that if reports of 7,000 Chechen troops in Ukraine are correct, Kadyrov’s forces will not have the numbers “to mount multiple significant offensive operations successfully'. 'The governor of Belgorod region also urged Russian forces yesterday to launch attacks and capture Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, including Kharkiv city, to create a buffer zone between Belgorod and Ukraine', according to the ISW. (Source: AlJazeera)

Ukraine
01/06/2023  President Zelensky said today he had received a strong show of support from allies attending a summit in Moldova on the question of supplying fighter jets to Kyiv. He made the comments at a news conference after a summit of over 40 European leaders in Moldova but gave few details. He has long been asking allies to provide Ukraine with fighter jets. Zelensky warned European leaders today that any doubts they show before admitting Kyiv into the NATO alliance 'will embolden Russia to attack more countries'. He said today in Moldova that Ukraine 'was ready to join the NATO military alliance', and that Kyiv was waiting for the bloc to be ready to admit his country. 'Our future is in the EU. Ukraine is ready to join NATO,' he said. Moldova is hosting the EPC summit at a castle about 20 kilometres from Ukrainian territory. Zelensky arrived in Moldova for European summit to discuss Ukraine defence. He said he was working on building support for a coalition of powers to supply fighter jets to help Ukraine repel Russian forces, and that he would also discuss his peace plan as well as Kyiv's aspirations to join NATO and the European Union. (Source: France24)

01/06/2023  Ukraine's air force said that air defences shot down all 10 ballistic and Iskander cruise missiles launched from Russia's Bryansk region in the 18th attack on the capital since the start of May. Police said a medical clinic, kindergarten, residential buildings and cars were damaged. The Kyiv military administration said three people - a young girl, her mother and another woman - were killed and 10 hurt in a Russian missile strike on Kyiv's Desnyansky district, early today. The attack began around 3am local time (0000 GMT). 'It is international children's day. At night, Russia again killed a child in Kyiv,' said Yermak, chief of President Zelensky's office. There's quite a lot of anger in Kyiv because the shelter that they were trying to get into was closed. The mayor of Kyiv, Klitschko, has ordered all of the shelters to be open at all times and for an examination of all the shelters to be carried out. There have been many complaints actually about shelters not being open or not being properly set up. (Source: France24)

North America

United States
01/06/2023  The US said it would stop giving Russia some notifications required under the New START arms control treaty from today, including on its missile and launcher locations, to retaliate for Moscow's "ongoing violations" of the accord. The State Department said the United States would also stop giving Russia flight telemetry information - remotely gathered data - on launches of US intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. (Source: France24)

1 June 2023  According to the Pentagon, the Biden administration has allocated more than $37.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since February 2022. In a meeting last week, US Defense Secretary Austin at the 12th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Liaison Group that it is important to enhance Ukraine's air defense capabilities. The Biden administration announced a new military aid package to Ukraine yesterday. This latest $300 million in military aid is the 39th draw of Defense Department supplies to Ukraine since August 2021. The package will use the president's recall authority, which allows the Pentagon to take weapons from its own stockpiles and quickly deliver them to Ukraine. It includes more ammunition for Patriot missile batteries and high-mobility artillery missile systems, as well as Avenger air defense systems, Stinger air defense systems and air defense AIM-7 missiles. It also includes multiple artillery and anti-tank capabilities, precision air munitions, demining equipment, unguided Zuni anti-aircraft missiles, night vision goggles and more. Citing the danger of escalation, the Biden administration made it clear to Ukraine that US-made weapons should not be used for attacks inside Russian territory, said Kirby, the National Security Council's strategic communications coordinator. (Source: EpochTimes)

June 01, 2023 The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted yesterday night, with wide support from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike, to allow the government to continue to borrow more money over the next year-and-a-half to meet its financial obligations, exceeding the current $31.4 trillion debt limit. The House approved the legislation on a 314-117 vote. Seventy-one lawmakers from the majority Republican party in the House voted against the bill, as did 46 Democrats. The U.S. Senate could vote as soon as today on a measure to suspend the government’s borrowing limit until early 2025 to avert a first-ever default when the United States in four days runs out of cash to pay its bills. The borrowing authority would extend to January 2, 2025, two months past next year’s presidential election. The legislation calls for maintaining most federal spending at the current level in the fiscal year starting in October, with a 1% increase in the following 12 months. Both Democratic Senate Majority Leader Schumer and McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, support suspension of the debt limit and are calling for swift passage of the legislation so it can be sent to President Biden for his signature. The measure does not raise taxes, nor will it stop the national debt total from continuing to increase, perhaps by another $3 trillion or more over the next year-and-a-half until the next expiration of the debt limit. Other pieces of the legislation include a reduction in the number of new agents hired by the country's tax collection agency, a requirement that states return $30 billion in unspent coronavirus pandemic assistance to the federal government and extending from 50 to 54 the upper age bracket for those required to work in order to receive food aid. (Source: VoANews)

1 June 2023  The president has suffered a series of near falls while in office, often while navigating stairs. White House blames a sandbag and insists commander-in-chief Biden, 80, wasn't injured when he fell again on stage. The fall came while Biden was handing diplomas to graduating Air Force Academy cadets in Colorado today. After his fall, the president walked away without help. He was helped up after falling during the graduation ceremony. It comes at the start of a presidential campaign where the White House is already fielding questions about why Biden has not been on the road more or held any formal campaing rallies. (Source: DailyMail)

1 June 2023  US News sources say Mr Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to be the next US President. As the situation in Ukraine remains volatile, the intentions and actions of former President Trump regarding financial and military support continue to be subjects of speculation. The quest for peace and the reduction of bloodshed appears to shape his approach, leaving room for potential shifts in strategy in the future. In an interview with Ferrari, Johnson, the former United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, discussed the extent of former President Trump's commitment to providing financial and military support to Ukraine. Johnson suggested that Trump's focus is on achieving peace. "He wants to reduce the killing and the bloodshed. He said that over and over. And so I don't think he's going to commit to anything like that until he gets in." Ferrari inquired whether this means leaving President Zelenskyy to rely solely on other Western partners for support. Zelenskyy has forged close ties with many world leaders since the war in Ukraine began. The former diplomat said he though Trump would prioritise avoiding further bloodshed and the expenditure of US dollars. Stating, "I think that's his number one goal, is to reduce the bloodshed on both sides. And so he'll probably hold to that position until he decides to change it, whether as President or not." (Source: LeadingBritain'sConversation)

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