While a formal timeline for it to join the military alliance was not agreed at a summit in Washington DC, the military alliance’s 32 members said they had “unwavering” support for Ukraine’s war effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO also announced further integration with Ukraine’s military and members have committed 40 billion euros in aid in the next year, including F-16 fighter jets and air defence support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bloc’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said: “Support to Ukraine is not charity\u2014it is in our own security interest.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ongoing invasion of Ukraine was top of the agenda at the summit, and a declaration agreed by all members said Russia “remains the most significant and direct threat” to security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed US-built F-16 jets are in the process of being transferred to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands. It will be the first time Ukraine has received the advanced aircraft, something which Kyiv has long called for. Blinken told the summit the jets will be in use “this summer”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NATO’s show of support came just days after Russian missiles blasted<\/a> cities across Ukraine, damaging the country\u2019s largest children\u2019s hospital and other buildings in a fierce assault that interrupted heart surgeries and forced young cancer patients to take their treatments outdoors. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At least 31 people were killed, officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The daytime barrage targeted five Ukrainian cities with more than 40 missiles of different types, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media. Ukraine\u2019s air force said it intercepted 30 missiles. More than 150 people were wounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was Russia\u2019s heaviest bombardment of Kyiv in almost four months, hitting seven of the city\u2019s 10 districts. At least seven people were killed in the capital, including two staff members at the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The attack on the Okhmatdyt children\u2019s hospital caused debris to fall into heart patients\u2019 open chests in the middle of surgery. Cancer patients had their beds wheeled into parks and onto the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ukraine\u2019s best high jumper captured a world record<\/a> on Sunday to go with her world championship, and now she has a good reason to think she might bring home an Olympic gold medal to her war-torn country.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yaroslava Mahuchikh erased a mark that had stood for 37 years at a Diamond League meet in Paris, jumping 2.10 meters (6.88 feet) in one of the last big tuneups leading into the Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The previous record of 2.09 was set by Bulgaria\u2019s Stefka Kostadinova in Rome in 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cComing into this competition, I had feelings that I could jump 2.07 meters and maybe 2.10 meters,\u201d Mahuchikh said. \u201cFinally I signed Ukraine to the history of world athletics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Georgia\u2019s<\/strong> accession to the European Union has been halted<\/a>, and some of the bloc\u2019s financial support to the South Caucasus country has been frozen after the Georgian authorities adopted a new law that critics feared would curb democratic freedoms, the EU Ambassador in Georgia said on Tuesday. According to Pawe\u0142 Herczy\u0144ski, EU leaders made the decision to halt the process during the last summit of the European Council in the wake of the Georgian authorities adopting a law on \u201cforeign influence\u201d despite weeks of protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A specialist website focused on naval activities around the world this week shared an image it says shows a Russian Navy support ship docked<\/a> at a Black Sea port in occupied Georgia<\/strong> where Moscow has vowed to establish a permanent naval base despite Tbilisi’s objections. Naval News reported that the Russian Project 22870 craft shown in the satellite imagery it published on July 10 was “observed in Ochamchire on July 4 and 5.” It did not cite a source. There does not appear to have been any official reaction from either Russia or Georgia to the ship’s alleged presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moldova\u2019s<\/strong> Socialists, the country’s largest opposition party, this week put forward<\/a> Alexandr Stoianoglo, a dismissed prosecutor general, as a \u201cunified opposition\u201d candidate to challenge pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu in an October presidential election. Sandu, who has made securing EU membership the cornerstone of her policies, is seeking a second mandate in a poll held alongside a referendum on joining the 27-nation bloc. The pro-Russia Socialists say they do not oppose the campaign for European integration, but accuse Sandu of using the referendum as a vehicle to win the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thousands of people gathered on Thursday in Srebrenica to commemorate<\/a> the 1995 massacre of Bosnian<\/strong> Muslims during the country’s civil war, two months after the UN created an annual day of remembrance of the genocide. On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces captured the eastern Bosnian town \u2014which was then a UN-protected enclave\u2014and killed 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the following days. In May, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring July 11 the “International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The European Commission this week issued a positive opinion on the technical and nuclear safety aspects of the construction<\/a> of Units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania<\/strong>. Under the Euratom Treaty, developers are required to notify the EC of planned investments and to demonstrate compliance with the highest safety standards. Cernavoda, the only nuclear power plant in Romania, comprises two 650-MWe CANDU-6 reactors. Unit 1 entered commercial operation in 1996 and Unit 2 in 2007. Cernavoda-3 is scheduled to start commercial operation in 2030 and Unit 4, the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TBC Bank Uzbekistan<\/strong>, the country\u2019s largest mobile-only bank and part of TBC Group Uzbekistan, Central Asia\u2019s leading digital banking ecosystem, this week announced a record 38.2 million US dollars equity investment from its shareholders to leverage its rapid and profitable growth. London-listed TBC Bank Group PLC, the parent company of TBC Bank Uzbekistan, is investing 23 million US dollars, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank, are investing 7.6 million US dollars each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lithuania<\/strong> fined<\/a> crypto company Payeer a record 9.3 million euros this week for sanctions and money laundering violations involving Russian clients. Payeer allowed Russian customers \u201cto carry out transactions in Russian rubles by transferring them from European Union-sanctioned Russian banks,\u201d the country’s Financial Crimes Investigation Service said in a statement<\/a> on Tuesday. Russian individuals and legal entities were \u201cgiven the opportunity to receive cryptocurrency wallet, account management or storage services,\u201d the service said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A young Romanian<\/strong> woman was\u00a0killed\u00a0in a bear attack<\/a> on Tuesday during a hike in the Carpathian Mountains, rescuers said. The 19-year-old woman\u2019s body was\u00a0recovered by rescuers in the Bucegi area in southern Romania, authorities said. The woman was attacked by the bear on the Jepii Mici mountain path. Mountain rescuers said she was dragged and torn to pieces by the bear in the attack. Following the attack, rescuers intervened and shot the animal, which was described as “extremely aggressive\u201d. Romania has more bears than any other country in Europe than Russia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo: NATO<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike many news and information platforms, Emerging Europe<\/em> is free to read, and always will be. There is no paywall here. We are independent, not affiliated with nor representing any political party or business organisation. We want the very best for emerging Europe, nothing more, nothing less. Your support will help us continue to spread the word about this amazing region.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You can contribute here<\/a>. Thank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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