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00:00 "NATO will defend all of its allies," its chief said, in a rebuke to Donald Trump's
00:05 threats to members who do not reach the 2% of GDP threshold.
00:11 Spain and Ireland call for an urgent review of the EU's trade deal with Israel over possible
00:17 breaches of international law.
00:20 Greece's same-sex marriage bill will be voted in parliament on Thursday. The government
00:24 claims it will restore an injustice that has been in place for many years.
00:30 Ukraine is increasing its electronic warfare by intercepting and decoding Russian messages
00:35 as it falls short on ammunitions and manpower.
00:41 18 NATO member states are set to spend 2% of their gross domestic product on defence
00:50 this year. The Alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made the announcement on
00:55 Wednesday. Stoltenberg explained that European NATO members will spend $380 billion on defence,
01:03 hitting 2% of their combined GDP for the first time.
01:09 European allies are spending more. However, some allies still have a way to go. Because
01:18 we agreed at the Vilnius summit that all allies should invest 2% and that 2% is a minimum.
01:27 The defence budget of European countries is a hot topic at the moment. Former President
01:32 and potential Republican candidate Donald Trump said if elected he would not come to
01:37 the aid of NATO members missing the 2% target. But Stoltenberg said NATO must always stand
01:43 behind each of its members.
01:45 Any suggestion that we are not standing up for each other, that we are not going to protect
01:49 each other, that is undermining the security of all of us, increasing the risks and therefore
01:55 it is so important that we both in actions but also in words communicate clearly that
02:01 we stand by NATO's commitment to protect and defend all allies.
02:06 Euronews spoke to Michael Baranowski, director of the Warsaw office of the German Marshall
02:12 Fund. He said Trump's remarks would be dangerous if he was President of the United States.
02:17 But his threat is not why European states have invested more in defence.
02:24 The spending of NATO allies has been increasing dramatically since Russia's full-scale invasion
02:33 of Ukraine two years ago. There is no doubt that the main motivation is in order to to
02:41 respond to President Putin, not President Trump.
02:45 US legislation bars any president from leaving NATO without the backing of two-thirds of
02:51 the US Congress. But Trump's possible return as US president worries some allies given
02:57 the country plays such a major role in the organisation.
03:06 Spain and Ireland have called for an urgent review of the European Union's long-standing
03:11 agreement with Israel over possible breaches of international law.
03:17 In a joint letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Prime Ministers Pedro
03:21 Sánchez and Leo Varadkar raised serious concerns about Israel's ongoing military campaign in
03:27 the Gaza Strip. The war has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run
03:33 health ministry. Both leaders asked the European Commission to assess whether Israel is complying
03:39 with its obligations under the Association Agreement, which has a provision on human
03:44 rights and democratic principles.
03:46 A Commission spokesperson confirmed the reception of the letter but said it was too soon to
03:51 talk about next steps.
03:55 The EU consistently underlines the importance of ensuring the protection of all civilians
04:00 at all times in line with international humanitarian law and it deplores all loss of lives, of
04:06 civilian lives, and that the EU continues to pass these messages in all its statements
04:12 but also as well bilaterally in its contacts with the Israeli authorities.
04:17 Sánchez and Varadkar are worried about a potential ground offensive in Rafah, the southern
04:23 town in Gaza where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering. Israel is yet to present its
04:29 evacuation plan. Both leaders say the offensive will cause an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.
04:36 As the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion on Ukraine looms, a Kiev that is
04:45 short on ammunition and manpower is relying on age-old tactics, intercepting and decoding
04:52 enemy messages.
04:57 Ukraine's defence ministry recently increased the budget on electronic warfare.
05:05 We don't have that many people and we have to understand where Russians are going to
05:10 attack next because we need our reserves just there.
05:14 Ukraine's defence ministry recently increased the budget on electronic warfare.
05:22 We have received information about the arrival of new equipment, ammunition, fuel, and the
05:29 delivery of new Zaitis. If Zaitis arrive, there will be an attack soon.
05:37 The members of this electronic warfare unit, most of them volunteers, understand the stakes
05:45 are high, particularly as support from Western allies becomes less stable.
05:52 This information is the only way we can win in this war. So any howitzers which United
05:58 States gave us, any storm shadows or other rockets which France, Great Britain, German
06:09 gives us will not be useful if they will not know where they should hit.
06:16 Ukrainians bracing themselves for the grim milestone of marking two years of Russian
06:28 occupation are fearful of ongoing instability regarding European and US support. While they
06:34 are fighting for the fate of their country, Ukrainians worry Russian operations, including
06:39 propaganda activity, could succeed in unravelling thus far relatively united Western responses.
06:46 Euronews was filming in the cities of Irpin and Bucha, where initially Ukrainians were
06:51 facing the most brutal attacks by the Russian army in the early days.
06:55 We didn't think that Russia can invade us because a lot of my relatives live in Russia.
07:03 My husband's aunt and her children live in Russia. And now they don't speak, they don't
07:10 communicate because they can't believe us that we are under bomb, that we struggle for
07:17 our freedom. They don't believe you?
07:21 They don't believe us. My husband wrote that he sent them some photos of destroyed houses
07:30 like this is our life. And they sent only, oh, it's not so dangerous, it's okay.
07:37 Do you think Europe will come to support Ukraine for the long run?
07:44 I hope, we all hope that Europe will support our country.
07:49 And NATO?
07:50 NATO too because we fight not only for our freedom, we fight for freedom of the whole
07:56 world.
07:57 Meanwhile, some of those on the front line for Ukraine have families in Russia who are
08:01 now sworn enemies.
08:02 Dmitry is a combat medic whose father lives in Russia and supports Putin.
08:08 My father is thinking that Ukraine has a lot of Nazis, you know, and that Putin is doing
08:15 right to occupy Ukraine. And we don't have any conversation since 2010.
08:25 We had conversation since 2017 with my father and now it's impossible.
08:32 You know, my father has a letter Z on his car.
08:37 That's what he's thinking about this world.
08:40 He supported Russia.
08:42 All our territory must turn to us.
08:46 Do you understand?
08:48 Donbass, everything, everything.
08:54 And then we can stop this war.
08:57 Do you think it's possible? You're from Donetsk.
09:00 I think it's possible.
09:01 I think it's possible, but we need more weapons.
09:06 We need more armored vehicles, understand?
09:11 And then we can take back our Crimea.
09:16 And as the people of Irpin and Bucha stop to relive the horrors of two years ago,
09:21 they say the war has to go on because Ukraine must win.
09:25 Shona Murray, Euronews, Irpin, Ukraine.
09:29 Angelos Maikalidis is a gay single parent.
09:35 He had two daughters in the United States with a surrogate mother.
09:40 The 53-year-old doctor now lives in Athens.
09:45 The bill allowing the marriage of same-sex couples that will be voted in parliament on Thursday
09:51 will change his family's life.
09:54 As soon as the law is passed, I will register my children in the police station.
09:58 So they will be visible to the state.
10:01 They will have free medical care, like all the other children.
10:07 I will be able to rest.
10:10 I don't have to work in the morning or in the evening to register them in a private school.
10:14 I can register them in a public school.
10:17 Several MPs have reservations about the possibility of same-sex couples adopting children.
10:22 But the government argues that the bill will restore an injustice that has been in place for many years.
10:28 Professor of constitutional law, Lina Papadopoulos, has drafted the bill.
10:33 There are many children who grow up with two mothers or two fathers.
10:37 These children, when they go out, when they go to play basketball,
10:41 when they go to the hospital, they have two mothers with them.
10:45 The state comes and takes one of their mothers,
10:48 takes her away from their records and tells them, "You don't have a second mother."
10:54 These children know that they have a second mother.
10:56 They know it. They live it. They live it every day.
10:59 So the first and most important thing is that these children will no longer be taken away
11:04 because of the state and because of a state decision, their second parent.
11:09 Far-right parties and the Orthodox Church strongly oppose the bill.
11:16 With the bill's re-election, Greece becomes the 16th member of the European Union
11:22 that allows same-sex couples to marry in a political marriage.
11:26 For the LGBTQI+ community, this is an important victory
11:29 and a moment that has been waiting for many years.
11:32 But the most important thing is that, finally, the rights of children,
11:37 of same-sex couples, which until today were almost invisible to the state.
11:42 From Athens, for GYRONEWS, Apostolos Taikos.
11:45 [SWOOSH]

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