Ban. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis had talks with the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, later saying on Twitter: „Very good discussion with Mark Rutte on regional security & measures to strengthen the Eastern Flank. Appreciation for support, through consistent military presence in Romania. We agreed to continue our close cooperation on EU agenda, especially on those subjects of common interest.” The EU leaders agreed in Brussels to block large part of Russian oil imports. The last-minute compromise deal will, for the time being, only affect deliveries by sea but not those by pipeline, which Hungary opposed. European Council president Charles Michel said, however, that the agreement cuts off a big source of financing for the Russian war machine. The measure is part of a sixth package of sanctions against Russia since the start of the latter’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine. Russian forces are advancing in eastern Ukraine, with heavy clashes with the Ukrainian army taking place in the centre of Severodonetsk. Together with Lysychansk, from which it is only separated by a river, Severodonetsk is one of the last Ukrainian strongholds in the Donbass mining region, which Russia claims is at the moment the only target of its so-called „special military operation”. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky admitted the Ukrainian army is in difficulty in this region. The Ukrainian forces say, however, that they have regained ground in the south, especially in the Kherson area, near Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian troops have withdrawn from the village of Mykolaivka, in the Kherson region. The city of Kherson was occupied by the Russian troops as early as the beginning of March, soon after the launch of the Russian invasion on 24th February, and commentators say retaking the city would have a symbolic, as well as a strategic, importance.
(Radio Romania International)
