Latest news bulletin | August 23rd – Midday
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00:00Romania's Prime Minister announces his candidate and seeks an economic portfolio at the European
00:06Commission.
00:10The Institute for the Study of War believes that Ukraine's Kursk incursion proved Russia's
00:16border is not impermeable.
00:22Blood supplies have flown between hospitals by drone in a trial scheme that could be rolled
00:26out across the country.
00:31Hungarian men living in Ukraine speak about how and why they escaped military conscription.
00:45Romania's Prime Minister Marjel Csolaku met with European Commission President Ursula
00:50von der Leyen in Brussels to discuss the country's candidate and portfolio in the new executive
00:56term.
01:01Similar to Italy and the Czech Republic, the Romanian leader declared he wanted his commissioner
01:06to have a portfolio linked to economic policies.
01:36Csolaku's pick for the position is one of the vice presidents of the European Parliament,
01:55the socialist MEP Victor Negrescu.
01:59Bucharest also did not present a female name, despite Ursula von der Leyen requesting this
02:05from all member states.
02:06Negrescu justified his pick to Euronews by arguing that the last two Romanian commissioners
02:12were women and emphasised his youth instead, as he is 39 years old.
02:34The Prime Minister will only make the official announcement on August 26th, after a final
02:52battle with the other two parties in the government coalition, who have also presented candidates.
03:01Negrescu has been in the European Parliament for around a decade, interrupted by a year's
03:06experience as Minister for European Affairs.
03:10Ursula von der Leyen expects to receive the names of all the candidates from countries
03:14by the end of August.
03:21Two weeks into Kiev's surprise incursion into Russian territory and Ukrainian forces show
03:26no sign of stopping, as Ukraine crossing from Sumy into Russia's Kursk region caught
03:32everyone off guard, including civilians, observers, Ukraine's Western allies and some Russian
03:38authorities.
03:39According to Institute for the Study of War Analysts, the operational security was crucial.
03:45The basically secrecy in which the planning for this was shrouded in is proving to be
03:51very, very important.
03:53And I think that Ukraine rightly learned from its experience planning for the 2023 counter-offensive
04:00last year, because there was a lot of messaging and a lot of telegraphing for that.
04:06And it really allowed the West, but also Russia to basically anticipate where Ukraine was
04:13going to attack and when.
04:15Experts from the Institute for the Study of War believes that seeing the conflict reach
04:20their own border could change the Russian people's perspective on the war.
04:32There's so many nuances that right now seem very fresh, but I think will generate discontent
04:38in the long term.
04:39The use of conscripts, for example.
04:41And then more broadly, that idea that the Russian border is not impermeable, that it
04:49is actually a vulnerability and that Russian society needs to start seeing it as a vulnerability.
04:55I think that will change a lot of the ways that Russian society is viewing the war and
05:01seeing kind of how the war can actually be felt by the Russian domestic populace, whereas
05:06they've been very largely apathetic towards it in the past.
05:12Ukraine claims to have seized over a thousand square kilometers in the Kursk region, surpassing
05:17what Russia captured in Ukraine over eight months.
05:21Yet the term war remains banned here, as it does throughout the rest of Russia.
05:32Blood supplies have been flown between two hospitals by drone in a trial the company
05:37behind the scheme hopes will be rolled out across the country.
05:41Five identical blood packs made the 68-kilometer journey from the Wandsbeck hospital to Anik
05:46infirmary and back again in the northern county of Northumberland.
05:51The trial flight could offer the solution to how to deliver vital blood to hospitals
05:55quickly and easily.
05:58In this particular trial, we flew 10 packs of red blood cells with NHS blood and transplant
06:04and drove 10 identical packs and essentially, on the other end, analyzed those in the laboratory
06:10and proved that there was no difference between the two packs, which means that delivering
06:15it by drone is a safe method of transport.
06:17Around 5,000 bags of blood are needed every day in the UK for transfusions and operations,
06:23but donors and patients are often miles apart.
06:26The trials are aimed at getting approval to use drone transportation in the UK.
06:31This could be really a great breakthrough for trying to get blood across areas where
06:38it's difficult to get through.
06:39So thinking about in the middle of London, where traffic, actually using a drone would
06:44be much quicker.
06:46While the drone trials have so far been well received, a full-scale rollout of the scheme
06:50would need to be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority.
06:57Every day, the number of graves in the park next to the Calvary Cemetery in Ushkhorod,
07:03western Ukraine, grows.
07:05This place has become the memorial site for recent fallen fighters of Transcarpathia.
07:10Roughly 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according
07:17to US estimates.
07:18The 43-year-old Igor was buried here in the Ungvary Military Cemetery just 10 days ago.
07:23His remains are still standing in the grave.
07:27In recent years, almost every day there has been a funeral.
07:31The men in the military uniforms have only one sin, that they don't want to come here.
07:37Some Hungarian men in Transcarpathia went home to escape Ukraine's military drafts.
07:43Others did not.
07:45Two Hungarian-Ukrainian men hiding in western Ukraine spoke to Euronews about how dodging
07:50the conscription has impacted them.
07:52When we can, we go.
07:54If we can't, we stay at home.
07:56Where do you come from?
07:58We try to understand each other, in any way.
08:03Even on the phone, or we text each other where the road is.
08:10While thousands share information online of how to escape the clutches of recruitment
08:16officers, another man has a different technique.
08:20I shot my wife with a car.
08:24Look, she's nowhere to be found.
08:28The police or the military, but usually the military is with the police,
08:34this is how we get to work.
08:36And if he sees you?
08:38Well, then...
08:39Let's go when he sees us.
08:41That's the way it is.
08:43For him, for Bokros, or for anyone else, we have to get away.
08:46One local says he has heard stories in Usharod of bribes to avoid the front lines getting more expensive.
08:54He said they let him go for 800 euros.
08:59They said they'd let us through the gate, but they didn't let us through the gate.
09:04But there are those who paid 5,000 euros.
09:07According to the Centre for European Policy Analysis,
09:11Kiev needs hundreds of thousands of more soldiers to defeat Russia's army.
09:16Lithuania has unveiled what it calls its first counter-mobility park in the country's east.
09:26It features roadblocks, various barriers and dragon's teeth anti-tank obstacles.
09:33It's part of the Baltic defence line slowly taking shape on NATO's eastern frontier.
09:40Lithuania's defence minister said the equipment will improve the country's defensive potential
09:46and bolster the security of its borders with Russia and Belarus.
09:55A mobile ramp, a giant swim belt and two helping hands.
09:59That's all it takes to enjoy the summer in Balaton,
10:03even for those who live their whole life in a wheelchair.
10:07After a four-year break, the Maltese charity service has held its five-day youth camp,
10:13in which 105 people with physical disabilities participated in.
10:18Each with a volunteer by their side.
10:20We are on the Balaton Riviera, so we can come here.
10:23There is a swimming programme, we take them out to the water.
10:26They are swimming, some of them are on the beach.
10:30This is the first time for many people to get close to the water and go out to the water.
10:37The campers could enjoy a sports exhibition featuring para-athletes,
10:42alongside a funfair with bull riding, skill games and target shooting.
10:48They could even race cars with their minds.
10:51For Richard, this is his sixth camp.
10:54He says the most important thing is that there are no barriers and anyone can make friends here.
11:10Young people can finally party together.
11:13During the day, they sing retro hits on the sailboat,
11:16and in the evening, they can have a beer or two during the concerts.
11:20There are four football players on the wheelchairs, and only one of them is disabled.
11:25The camp's main goal is that healthy and disabled people feel good together,
11:30and that all young people understand what it is like to be forced into a wheelchair.
11:35Zoltán Siposegyi, Euronews, Balatonfenyves.