Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00A Russian drone has struck the protective shell of a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl
00:06power plant.
00:11Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba says Europe must speak up and protect its
00:16interests in an exclusive interview with Euronews.
00:21Dresden holds commemorative events to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied Forces
00:26bombing of the city in the Second World War.
00:31Nationwide protests have erupted in Belgium against the new government's economic policies.
00:40A Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead has struck the protective shell of Chernobyl's
00:45nuclear reactor, according to Ukrainian authorities.
00:51President Zelensky says the key region was attacked overnight and the drone hit the safe
00:56confinement of the destroyed fourth reactor unit of the nuclear power plant.
01:01He added, however, that although the confinement sustained significant damage, the fire was
01:06extinguished and radiation levels have not increased.
01:11Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought repeated warnings of dangers to Ukraine's four nuclear
01:16plants, especially at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia plant in southern Ukraine.
01:24Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the strike on Chernobyl
01:30and military activity near the Zaporizhia plant have left the UN agency on high alert.
01:41The U.S. Secretary of Defense has called restoring Ukraine's pre-2014 borders unrealistic
01:47and ruled out the country's NATO membership.
01:49Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba says Ukraine must now focus on what remains
01:54on the table.
01:55Overall, Russia is interested in three topics, land, NATO and money.
02:03Now we see that land and NATO are already gone without any fight.
02:11Of course, Ukraine will continue to insist on it, but this U.S. position has been set
02:16more than squarely.
02:19So what stays on the table is money, and that will be about sanctions, about frozen Russian
02:28assets, and the new element added to it is this raw material agreement that Trump wants
02:35to sign with Ukraine.
02:38President Zelensky doubts Europe can fill the gap if U.S. support fades.
02:43Ahead of the annual Munich security conference, Kuleba says the ball is now in Europe's court.
02:48So high expectations, but I don't think there will be anything new coming from the U.S.
02:55side.
02:56What I think could happen is whether Europe is going to speak up.
03:05But Europe has been silent so far, and it has to give its voice, it has to say what
03:13is happening, what is its view on this, because basically everything that Trump said and did
03:20so far did not only not match Ukrainian interests, but also European interests.
03:29Ukraine wants NATO membership, but instead there are suggestions of different security
03:33guarantees such as European peacekeepers.
03:36Kuleba believes that to be unrealistic.
03:39Three thousand kilometers of the front line.
03:44Three thousand kilometers.
03:46Zelensky said at least 200,000 troops are needed, and he's very humble in his assessment.
03:54That means that all the entire armed force of the entire European Union will have to
04:03go through the peacekeeping operation.
04:06Because if you deploy 200,000 to the line, it means that you need to have at least 200,000
04:13at home resting and preparing for the rotation.
04:18The cost of this mission is uncountable.
04:21I mean, you can, I cannot even count how much it is going to cost.
04:27And listen, if you have all that money that you are ready to invest in peacekeepers, it
04:33will be much cheaper to give them to Ukraine to build, to allow it to build up its own
04:41army and fight the Russians without exposing the lives of EU soldiers to the threat of
04:48being caught up in fire.
04:50Less than three weeks from the three-year mark of Russia's full-scale invasion, Donald
04:54Trump is pushing for negotiations.
04:56The terms, however, remain unclear.
05:03The German city of Dresden marked the 80th anniversary of the Allied bombing in World
05:07War II with various commemorative events.
05:10On the 13th of February 1945, Allied forces conducted a three-day aerial raid of the city,
05:16which destroyed large parts of it.
05:19Firestorms also swept through the city center, adding to the misery.
05:23As many as 25,000 people were killed in the bombing campaign, and the pain is still felt
05:27to this day.
05:28The annual event carries significant importance to not only Dresdeners, but also Germans from
05:49other cities.
05:51We are from Berlin, but we come here every year and think it is very good that so many
06:02people are here.
06:03And we must not forget what happened here.
06:09Prince Edward of the British Royal Family attended the event in representation of the
06:13King.
06:14He participated in the events and spoke of the grief still felt at the terrible destruction
06:19and loss of life.
06:21He also visited the Dresden Frauenkirche during his stay, an iconic church in the city, which
06:26was completely destroyed during the bombing.
06:29The church, which was rebuilt and opened in 2005, remained in ruins for decades, and served
06:35as a reminder of the Allies' aggression.
06:43US Vice President J.D. Vance arrived in Germany on Thursday, where he is to hold critical
06:48talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security
06:52Conference.
06:55Upon his arrival, he first visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial site, a powerful
07:00symbol of World War II.
07:04Together with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vance and Zelensky are set to discuss
07:08President Donald Trump's intensifying push for Ukraine and Russia to begin negotiations
07:13to end the war.
07:17In addition to his talks with Zelensky, Vance is delivering an address to the conference
07:21on Friday.
07:27Serbian students from several cities are marching over the course of four days to join at a
07:3215th of February protest in the central town of Kragujevac.
07:37The demonstrations, led by university students, demand accountability and justice for the
07:43deaths of 15 people in the train station awning collapse last November.
07:48One student tells us why he is marching.
07:58Weeks-long protests forced the resignation of Serbia's Prime Minister, Milos Vucevic,
08:04and further concessions from authorities.
08:06However, students do not believe their demands have been fully met.
08:11In January, students went on an 80-kilometer march from Belgrade to the northern city of
08:16Novi Sad.
08:29U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied that the U.S. is betraying Ukraine, following
08:34comments that Ukraine should not join NATO and that it's up to Europe to protect itself
08:39and Ukraine from Russian aggression.
08:43Ahead of a meeting with NATO allies in Brussels on Thursday, he reiterated his call that Ukraine
08:48should prepare for a negotiated peace settlement and abandon hope to gain back all its territory
08:53from Russia.
08:54There is no betrayal there.
08:57There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested
09:02in peace, a negotiated peace.
09:05As President Trump has said, stopping the killing.
09:09And so that will require both sides recognizing things they don't want to.
09:14In response to the announcement from the Trump administration, NATO Chief Mark Rutte urged
09:19the group's European allies to significantly wrap up their own defense spending.
09:24We have to ramp up defense spending because we know we cannot protect ourselves four or
09:30five years from now if we don't.
09:32And also we need to ramp up defense spending because it is clear that the U.S. rightly
09:38requires us to do more here on the European side and the Canadian side of NATO.
09:43It's only fair.
09:44It's only sensible.
09:45Rutte and several other NATO allies are insisting that Ukraine and Europe must not be cut out
09:50of any peace negotiations, after Trump signaled that he would hold face-to-face talks soon
09:56with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
10:02People in Kyiv have reacted to the U.S. President Donald Trump asking Russian President Vladimir
10:08Putin to begin negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine without commitment to Ukraine's
10:14participation in the talks.
10:32He said that he will meet with Putin and it will all happen without Ukraine, that is,
10:40they will decide our fate with Putin, who, thanks to whom, in our country so many people
10:48have been lost, the best people.
10:52Well, the mood is a little bit, well, not a little bit, but quite, let's say, negative.
11:01And it's very sad about it.
11:05I'm just outraged.
11:08In short, if I were to comment on all this, I would remember my grandmother's words.
11:13A crow does not gouge out a crow's eye.
11:16It's in the third year of the war to merge, to give up Ukraine.
11:21I think it's just a huge humiliation, first of all for the great American people.
11:27I don't understand how they chose him.
11:29Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said he will not accept any negotiations about
11:36Ukraine that do not include his country in the talks.
11:39European governments also demanded a seat at the table.