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00:00This weekend, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will end electricity grid connections to neighboring
00:06Russia and Belarus.
00:10The European Commission warns that Donald Trump sanctions against the International
00:14Criminal Court, ICC, threatens the search for justice in Ukraine.
00:22Nearly three and a half decades after leaving the Soviet Union, the Baltic countries of
00:27Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania this weekend will flip a switch to end electricity grid
00:32connections to neighboring Russia and Belarus, and lean in more with their EU allies.
00:39The severing of electricity ties to oil and gas-rich Russia is steeped in geopolitical
00:44and symbolic significance.
00:48This is the last remaining element of our reliance or dependence on the Russian energy
00:55system or Belarusian energy system.
00:57Stopped to buy any kind of energy resources from Russia.
01:02And it was our response to the war in Ukraine, which broke out in February 2022.
01:11EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and other dignitaries are expected for a ceremony on Sunday, as
01:17a specially made nine-meter-tall clock in downtown Vilnius counts down the final seconds
01:23of the Baltic state's electricity ties to Russia.
01:35Six months into Ukraine's surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region, KU forces launched
01:40a new assault into the border area.
01:42According to the Institute for the Study of War, they have advanced up to five kilometers
01:47behind Russian lines, southeast of Sudzha.
01:51The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that Ukrainian forces attacked in several ways
01:55in the direction of Cherkasskoye-Konopelko and Ulanok, with up to two mechanised battalions
02:00worth of armoured vehicles.
02:02Moscow insisted that Russian forces rip out the attack.
02:07Ukrainian authorities are not commenting on the latest advancements, but on Wednesday
02:10Volodymyr Zelensky remarked that Kyiv's operations in Kursk region might play an important part
02:16during future negotiations with Russia to end the war.
02:20Russia's President Vladimir Putin this week praised the elite formations defending in
02:25Kursk region, highlighting the fact that the Ukrainian incursion has pinned about a combined
02:31armed army worth of Russian troops in there since August 2024.
02:40Senior EU officials have warned that Donald Trump's decision to sanction the International
02:45Criminal Court, ICC, risks endangering the search for justice in Ukraine.
02:50European Council President Antonio Costa, who met with ICC presidents on Thursday, said
02:56the decision undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole.
03:01Trump's order imposes financial and visa restrictions on those who assist the ICC in its investigation
03:08of American citizens or allies.
03:11EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a post on X, said the ICC guarantees accountability
03:16for international crimes and gives a voice to victims worldwide.
03:21Since March 2022, the ICC has been investigating allegations of war crimes in Ukraine and issued
03:28arrest warrants against six high-ranking officials of the Kremlin, including President Vladimir
03:34Putin.
03:40Donald Trump's decision to freeze funds to USAID will not only have a big impact on NGOs,
03:46but also on the role the United States play in the rest of the world, according to David
03:51Salvo from the Alliance of Securing Democracy.
03:55We're alienating people, we're opening the doors to America's adversaries to fill in
03:58these leadership vacuums all over the world, in Latin America, in the Middle East, in Southeast
04:05Asia.
04:06In Africa, China and Russia are the ultimate benefactors of this policy, not the American
04:11people.
04:12However, this expert believes that the programs might have bigger support from US citizens
04:17than some think.
04:19I think if you told most American citizens that we have a tiny fraction of the US federal
04:26budget that is going to supporting HIV and AIDS health programs in Africa, or providing
04:34food and clean water in real conflict zones, I don't think you would get much opposition
04:40to that.
04:43Watch the full interview next week in The Europe Conversation.