UKRAINE Germany considers increasing its
economic aid to Ukraine, but still refuses to supply it with weapons, DPA
quotes a governmental source in Berlin as saying. The announcement comes ahead
of a visit by chancellor Olaf Scholz to Kyiv on
Monday and to Moscow on Tuesday, in the
context of the Russian-Ukrainian standoff. Meanwhile, the US has started pulling out its OSCE
staff from the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, controlled by pro-Russian
separatists, Reuters reports. The US and many of its allies are urging their citizens to leave Ukraine, warning that a
Russian invasion may be imminent. The Romanian foreign ministry has raised the
alert level for Ukraine and advises Romanian citizens to avoid travelling to
that country. Romanian nationals currently in Ukraine are urged to notify their
presence to Romania’s embassy or consular offices and to reconsider staying in
that country. The foreign ministry also calls on Romanian citizens, including
journalists, to avoid big crowds, to stay up to date with information from
reliable sources and to adjust their plans to the security situation there.
NATO Meanwhile, US Stryker
armoured vehicles have reached the Mihail Kogălniceanu military base in
southern Romania, where 1,000 US troops will also be relocated from Germany to
strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. With the arrival of Task Force Cougar, the number of American troops in Romania
reaches nearly 2,000. France
has also voiced willingness to deploy troops to Romania. A NATO member since
2004, Romania was already hosting 900 American, 250 Polish and 140 Italian
troops. A unit of the US Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), comprising around 150
troops and 8 F-16 Fighting Falcons, are conducting joint training missions with
Romanian troops and aircraft for 2 weeks. A senior Pentagon official also announced the US decided to send an
additional 3,000 troops to Poland as well.
COVID-19 The number of new COVID-19
cases continues to drop in Romania, with nearly 12,000 new cases reported on
Sunday and 81 related deaths. Over 1,140 patients are currently in intensive care. The
largest number of infections since the start of the pandemic, 40,018, was reported on February 1. The health minister Alexandru Rafila said the number of new reported
cases remains high, although it is falling quickly, and once again pleaded for
vaccination, especially among vulnerable categories. As for lifting the
restrictions, the health minister did not specify a deadline, but stressed that
relaxation will be as quick as the situation allows it. In turn,
the head of the vaccination programme Valeriu Gheorghiţă said that in the
future vaccination will be seasonal, just like for the flu, and the vaccine
will be adjusted to the variant circulating at a particular time. He
also said the vaccination rate in Romania stands at 50.5% of the adult
population.
PANDEMIC This weekend
restrictions were eased off in Italy, Spain and Iceland, while France and Germany are planning to do the same in the
coming weeks. Norway lifted the last protection measures in the country in
spite of a rise in the number of Omicron cases. However, the protests initiated
by truck drivers in Canada 2 weeks ago, and spreading to several other
countries on Saturday, are still going on. European drivers headed to major
capital cities to protest the compulsory vaccine and digital certificate. Protests
were organised in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand. (A.M.P.)