PLAN The Romanian government is working on a
national plan aimed at offering assistance to the Ukrainian refugees who have
made it to Romania. Authorities plan to provide support to the refugees who
decided to stay in Romania offering them jobs, medical assistance and education
for their children. Six working groups have been set up to deal with the issue.
The European Commission is to send to Bucharest a team who will assess the
expenses the government had with the Ukrainian refugees and how to settle them
with EU funds. Roughly 80 thousand Ukrainian refugees have decided to stay in
Romania and four thousand of them have applied for asylum. Over three thousand
Ukrainians have managed to get legal employment in Romania since the beginning
of the war on February 24th. Over half a million Ukrainian refugees
have so far arrived in Romania and roughly 30 thousand are children. The total
number of refugees has been estimated at 3.3 million.
COVID-19 2241 new covid-19 infections have been reported in Romania
in the past 24 hours as well as 16 fatalities. The number of those infected in
need of hospital care is coming close to 3000 out of whom 464 are being treated
in ICUs. Romania has also registered 48 thousand acute respiratory infections
in a week since the restrictions were lifted on March 9th. No
prevention rules are currently in place in Romania.
UKRAINE Ukrainian president Volodymyr
Zelensky has today said he held talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron
on cooperation and ways of finding a peaceful solution to the conflict,
liberating the Ukrainian territories and saving people’s lives. At least 260
civilians have been killed in the fights for the city of Kharkiv in the
north-east of the country since the Russian troops commenced their onslaught on
Ukraine almost a month ago. The city has constantly been under mortar fire and
several residential buildings have been hit. The port-city of Mariupol has been
destroyed almost 98%, the local authorities have announced accusing Russia of
having transferred thousands of locals to isolated areas in Russia by force. In
turn, Moscow has accused Kiev of planning an attack against certain facilities
housing Western diplomats in Lviv. ‘Kiev is planning chemical attacks against
civilians in the regions of Sumy and Mikolayv’ says Russia but has provided no evidence in this respect. Many Western countries had moved their diplomats from
Kiev to Lviv even before the Russian invasion on February 24th. On
Saturday, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Indian counterpart
Narendra Modi called for the immediate cessation of violence in Ukraine. The
USA has confirmed the use by Russia of the hypersonic Kinzhal missiles in its
attacks against Ukraine. At least 847 civilians have been killed and 1399
wounded in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict, says the Office of the
UN Commissioner for Human Rights.
FRANCOPHONY More than ever the big family of
Francophony must prove solidarity to face the severe challenges in the
Francophone space, such as Russia’s horrible aggression against Ukraine, the
tragic humanitarian situation it created, the security gap and the threat of
terrorism in some regions of Africa, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said
today in a message conveyed on the occasion of the Day of Francophony. The
Francophony is a community of values but these
common values are threatened by the war Russia is waging in Ukraine, Romanian
Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu has also said. Romania became a member of the
International Organisation of Francophony in 1993. The Romanian Peasant Museum
is today screening French film productions and the National Opera in Bucharest
is staging the show Giselle by Adolphe Charles Adam under the baton of Ciprian
Teodorescu. ‘Farewell Mr. Haffman’ by Jean-Phillipe Daguerre is being played at
the National Theatre in Bucharest. Music lovers can enjoy a concert of French
baroque music and old Romanian music at the Art Museum of Romania.
(bill)
