Latest news bulletin | February 21st – Midday
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00:00 The UN has been forced to pause food deliveries in northern Gaza due to increasing chaos in
00:09 the enclave.
00:10 The body of a Russian soldier who switched sides during the war with Ukraine last year
00:15 has been found with multiple bullet wounds in Spain.
00:20 Poland has proposed a nine-point action plan to the EU in order to restore its judicial
00:26 independence and reverse Article 7.
00:34 The United Nations Food Agency is pausing deliveries of aid to northern Gaza.
00:41 A spokesperson said the decision had not been taken lightly but that safety and security
00:46 could not be guaranteed for those delivering aid and those receiving it.
00:50 There is "complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order," he said.
00:56 On Sunday, aid trucks had been met with gunfire.
01:01 The pause in food distribution comes as a UN study found that one in six children in
01:06 Gaza was acutely malnourished.
01:10 Every time a family is displaced, they become more and more desperate, they lose some more
01:14 resilience.
01:15 And that's really a consideration when we are so worried about the threat of famine
01:21 across the Strip.
01:22 We know we can't reach everybody right now.
01:25 It's impossible to get into the north.
01:31 Reports that Gaza's Nasser Hospital has ceased to function following an Israeli raid.
01:36 The World Health Organization has led two life-saving missions to transfer 32 critical
01:41 patients, including two children.
01:48 You can think about the worst situation ever.
01:51 You multiply by ten and this is the worst situation I have seen in my life.
01:55 It's the debris, the light, working in the darkness, patients everywhere.
02:02 On the diplomatic front, the US has vetoed a UN resolution for an unconditional ceasefire
02:07 in Gaza.
02:08 Instead, it is proposing a temporary ceasefire with added conditions including all hostages
02:13 are released, as well as facilitating aid to Gaza.
02:21 Police say a bullet-riddled body of a man found in an underground car park in La Kala,
02:27 near the eastern port city of Alicante, is that of a Russian pilot who defected into
02:31 Ukraine last year.
02:34 Maxim Kuzminov was found dead after allegedly moving to the town on the Mediterranean coast,
02:40 in an area popular with holidaymakers.
02:44 Last September, during a news conference, Kuzminov said he had switched sides because
02:48 he opposed Russia's war on Ukraine.
02:51 He also said that Ukraine promised him $500,000 in state payments, new documents, and protection
02:57 for his family.
03:00 Kuzminov's body was found alongside documentation matching his nationality, but with a different
03:07 name.
03:08 A burnt-out car apparently used by the attackers was found nearby.
03:13 At first police thought the killing was gang-related, but now the finger of blame is pointing to
03:18 the Kremlin.
03:19 In the past, its assassins have carried out a series of killings across Europe.
03:24 The tempo of Russian offensive operations near Avdiivka has reportedly dramatically
03:39 slowed following the Russian seizure of the town, says the Institute for the Study of
03:44 War in its latest assessment.
03:47 Ukrainian Tavriysk group of forces spokesperson said that the number of Russian attacks in
03:52 the Avdiivka direction significantly decreased in the past day and that the Russian forces
03:58 are currently regrouping and conducting clearing operations in Avdiivka.
04:04 The UK defence ministry says it is likely that Russian forces lack the combat effectiveness
04:08 to immediately exploit the capture of Avdiivka and will require a period of rest and refit.
04:15 The Institute for the Study of War adds Russian forces will likely have to conduct an operational
04:20 pause before resuming significant offensive operations in the Avdiivka direction or will
04:25 have to transfer additional reinforcements from the other sectors of the front to the
04:30 area to prevent operations near Avdiivka from culminating and to continue attacks in this
04:36 area.
04:37 Russian forces have reserves available for such reinforcements in other sectors, but
04:42 the Institute for the Study of War has observed no indication that the Russian command is
04:46 moving those reserves toward Avdiivka at this time.
04:50 Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have withdrawn to a new line of defence previously prepared
04:55 in advance and fortified at several levels, according to the officials.
05:01 Available imagery which the Institute for the Study of War will not present or describe
05:05 in great detail at this time to preserve Ukrainian operational security does not support claims
05:12 that Ukrainian forces lack prepared defensive positions west of Avdiivka.
05:22 Thousands of Ukrainian refugees went to Serbia when the war started.
05:25 Some of them then continued to Western Europe, others remained.
05:28 In parallel, thousands of Russians decided to leave their country and move to Serbia,
05:33 mostly due to the forced conscription into the Russian army.
05:36 Serbian estimates say 150,000 Russians and 16,000 Ukrainians live in the western Balkan
05:41 country.
05:42 Zhenya moved to Serbia from Sakhalin, a city in the Russia Far East, just after the war
05:47 started and settled in Novi Sad.
05:49 When it all started, we felt very bad.
05:53 We've been crying for a couple of days.
05:57 And I felt like being in a cage.
06:00 I feel my, maybe not guilt, but responsibility because in my name, my country is killing
06:08 a name, people in neighboring country.
06:13 Due to EU visa requirements, Serbia considers the Russians as refugees.
06:20 The Ukrainians who remained in Serbia say they want to return to their country.
06:25 Ivana's husband is currently in Kiev after one year fighting on the front.
06:32 We haven't seen each other for two years.
06:39 My mother and sister lived in Kamenets Podolskoye.
06:47 It's nice in Serbia, but in the house, it's better in the house.
06:58 According to the official figures so far, about 80,000 Ukrainians, refugees, have been
07:03 going through Serbia and settled into the EU.
07:15 Poland wants to reconcile with the EU.
07:17 On Tuesday, Poland proposed a way out of Article 7, the EU's special procedure for when a country
07:23 betrays the Union's values.
07:25 The article was triggered against Poland in December 2017 after judicial reforms proposed
07:30 by the previous government were seen to undermine the rule of law.
07:34 The new government, run by former President of the European Council Donald Tusk, has presented
07:38 a nine-point action plan to restore Poland's judicial independence and reverse Article
07:43 7.
07:45 The action plan is a step in the direction which might lead to the closure of the Article
07:53 7, but there is much work to be done.
07:56 And the minister today presented a series of laws which will have to be adopted in Poland
08:02 so that to get there.
08:07 Poland was the first country against which Article 7 was triggered, so the way out is
08:11 not completely clear.
08:13 Ideally, Warsaw would like to have Article 7 lifted by the 1st of May, the anniversary
08:18 of Poland's accession to the EU.
08:20 This analyst said this could be possible.
08:22 Indeed, there is no doubt that the new Polish government is truly determined to restore
08:28 the rule of law and to do everything it takes to change the legal reality in Poland.
08:35 And in fact, the main argument for the Commission or for the Council, for the EU member states
08:41 to lift the Article 7 procedure would be to acknowledge, by acknowledging that the reality
08:52 in Poland has in fact changed.
08:55 Even if not all pieces of legislation which are underway may be adopted by the end of
09:07 April.
09:10 Article 7 is also known as the EU's nuclear weapon.
09:13 The disciplinary measure includes stripping a country of its right to vote.
09:17 But for Poland, it needs to be rid of it, not least to be back at the centre of the
09:22 European decision-making process.
09:26 If Poland is out of this procedure, it means that we are stronger as a member state, that
09:31 we might have more influence on how the European integration is going and we'll have more power
09:37 in also supporting those ideas, projects that we would like to implement at the EU level.
09:47 Poland still needs to solve some internal issues with its President Andrzej Duda, who
09:52 has recently acted in the interests of the former government.
09:55 But if Poland manages to exit Article 7, Hungary will be the only EU country left in its shackles.
10:06 Hungary is preparing to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO.
10:10 On social media, the leader of the ruling Fidesz parliamentary group announced that
10:14 he had asked the President to include the final vote on the parliamentary agenda for
10:18 next Monday.
10:19 Matte Coxes said they intend to support Sweden's entry into the Atlantic Alliance.
10:25 On Saturday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban already said they were on track to ratify the accession,
10:31 emphasizing the "important steps taken to re-establish trust."
10:44 Four high-level Egyptian security officials went on trial in absentia before a Rome court
10:50 on Tuesday.
10:51 They are accused of the 2016 abduction, torture and slaying of Giulio Regini, an Italian doctoral
10:57 student in Cairo.
10:59 Regini's body was found on a motorway days after he disappeared in the Egyptian capital
11:04 in January 2016.
11:07 His family said his body was so mutilated by torture that only the tip of his nose was
11:11 recognizable.
11:17 Human rights activists have said the marks on Regini's body resembled those resulting
11:22 from widespread torture in Egyptian security agency facilities.
11:26 This is the second time the four Egyptian security officials went on trial on charges
11:32 related to Regini's death.
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