Ukraine strengthens support for NATO, but Hungary continues to supply weapons – news of the day
NATO will maintain and strengthen its support for Ukraine in the short and long term so that Kyiv can defend itself against Russian aggression, the organisation’s secretary general said in Brussels. After a two-day meeting with their foreign ministers, Jens Stoltenberg said that in addition to humanitarian aid, NATO is providing Ukraine with tools to defend itself against cyber attacks and chemical and biological threats. Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba urged Ukraine to take up new weapons after NATO talks in Brussels. So, if the West doesn’t help within days, it will be too late. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has indicated Washington is investigating what new weapons it can send to the war-torn country.
Hungary still does not supply arms to Ukraine, the Foreign Minister confirmed after a two-day meeting with the relevant NATO ministers. Péter Szijjártó said that Ukraine’s foreign affairs leader had asked the alliance to increase arms supplies, so NATO insisted on the alliance, not participating in the conflict and not supplying weapons. Member States may continue to supply arms to Ukraine on a bilateral basis, but Hungary continues to do so. He added that several results had been achieved during the meeting. Sanctions against Russia do not affect oil and gas supplies.
Ukrainian foreign affairs spokesman expects military support from Hungary. Oleh Nikolenko said that if Hungary really wants to end the war, it must end the new sanctions against Russia by cracking down on and supporting the unity of the European Union. He also accused Hungary of assisting Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war against Ukraine. The spokesman reacts to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s international press conference on Wednesday, at which one of the prime ministers said that it would not be difficult for Hungary to pay Russia in rubles for the ruble if the Russians so requested.
It is calling for a full embargo on Russian imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas in the European Parliament. The resolution adopted by a large majority of the panel believes that this should be accompanied by a plan to ensure the security of the Union’s energy supply. In the motion, MEPs call on EU leaders to exclude Russia from the G20 and other multilateral organizations and, to strengthen sanctions, to exclude Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank communications system, to ban Russian vessels from entering EU territorial waters. . Fidesz MEPs voted against the proposal.
It supports the filling of at least 80% of gas storage facilities before the winter of the European Parliament. The proposal was presented by the European Commission on 23 March. The goal is to have enough gas available for households and businesses in the next heating season. The new MEPs are required to fill the new natural gas storage facilities by at least 80% by 1 November and by 90% in the coming years, so that gas supply can be guaranteed for Europeans in the event of a supply disruption.
Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council has been suspended by the World Assembly. In the 193-member UN General Assembly, a two-thirds majority vote on the US-led agenda supported 93 draft resolutions, with 24 countries voting against and 58 abstentions. Following the decision, Russia announced that it would resign its membership of the UN Human Rights Council prematurely, with immediate effect. Moscow considers the UN resolution illegal and politically motivated.
The last urn of the foreign mission also arrived at the National Electoral Office, the urn from Hanoi contains 36 votes. The National Electoral Commission said the ballot boxes and ballot box labels were also intact, so there was no legal impediment to counting the votes in the ballot box. On the day of the vote, voters residing abroad with a Hungarian address were able to vote at Hungary’s embassies and consulates, and in 145 foreign missions in 97 countries. Votes are grouped by 106 individual constituencies, and NVI staff are counted along with the votes of pass-through voters.
The number of flu-like illnesses has fallen after a steady rise for five weeks. Information from the National Center for Public Health reported that the full number of patients registered on 28 March and 3 April was registered as of the previous week, according to a report from doctors involved in the monitoring service. If in two counties, Győr-Moson-Sopron and Pest counties, more people still visited their doctor with flu complaints than in the 12th week. Influenza-like illness remains invariably diagnosed among children aged 3–14 years.
However, vaccination against coronavirus will not be mandatory in Germany for the time being. The federal parliament rejected the motions on this. Proponents of pro-vaccination support for the vaccination had originally intended to oblige people over the age of 18 to give the vaccine, but failed to secure a majority. Thus, in the end, it was only proposed that vaccination be prescribed to those over 60 years of age. However, this motion did not win the support of a majority of Members either. General vaccination obligations have been introduced in only one country in Europe, Austria, but have been suspended there in early March for three months.