Europe

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/50930457

President Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for China's support of Ukraine's territorial integrity. The President also emphasized the importance of strengthening bilateral relations.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/30140601

Oleksandr deserted from the front line in eastern Ukraine after watching his fellow servicemen being pulverised by Russian bombardments for six months. Then, those remaining were ordered to counterattack.

It was the final straw for Oleksandr, 45, who had been holding the line in the embattled Lugansk region in the early months of the war. Even his commanding officer was reluctant to send his men back toward what looked like certain death. So when Oleksandr saw an opening to save his life, he did.

"We wanted to live. We had no combat experience. We were just ordinary working people from villages," the soft-spoken serviceman, who declined to give his last name, told AFP.

His decision is just one of many cases plaguing the Ukrainian military, which has already suffered at least 43,000 losses in nearly three years of fighting, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed this month. The government is also struggling to recruit new troops. Together, these manpower problems present a critical hurdle for Ukraine, which is losing territory to Russia at the fastest rate since the early days of the February 2022 invasion.

The issue was put under the spotlight in September when 24-year-old serviceman Sergiy Gnezdilov announced in a scathing social media post that he was leaving his unit in protest over indefinite service. "From today, I am going AWOL with five years of impeccable soldiering behind me, until clear terms of service are established or until my 25th birthday," he wrote.

Figures published by the Ukrainian general prosecutor's office show that more than 90,000 cases have been opened into instances of soldiers going absent without leave or deserting since Russia invaded in 2022, with a sharp increase over the past year.

Oleksandr said that after leaving the frontline, he remembered little from the year he spent at home in the Lviv region owing to concussions he suffered while deployed. He recounted "mostly drinking" to process the horrors he witnessed but his guilt was mounting at the same time. He ultimately decided to return after seeing young Ukrainians enlist or wounded troops return to battle -- despite pleas from his family.

His brother was beaten during the historic Maidan protests in 2013 that toppled Ukraine's pro-Kremlin leader, and later died. His sister was desperate. "They're going to kill you. I would rather bring you food to prison than flowers to your grave," he recounted his sister telling him during a visit from Poland.

It was guilt, too, that motivated Buch, who identified himself by a military nickname, to return to battle. The 29-year-old deserted after being wounded in fierce fighting in southern Ukraine in late 2022 during the liberation of Kherson city. "Just staying under constant shelling gradually damages your mental state. You go crazy step by step. You are all the time under stress, huge stress," he said of his initial decision to abscond.

In an effort to address manpower shortages, Ukrainian lawmakers in August approved an amnesty for first-time offenders who voluntarily returned to their units.

Both the 47th and 53rd brigades in December announced they would welcome back servicemen who had left the front without permission, saying: "We all make mistakes." Prosecutors said in early December that 8,000 servicemen that went absent without leave or deserted had returned in November alone.

Still, Siver, commander of the 1st Separate Assault Battalion, known as Da Vinci, who also identified himself by his military nickname, said the number of Ukrainian troops fleeing the fighting without permission was growing. That is partly because many of the most motivated fighters have already been killed or wounded.

"Not many people are made for war," said Siver, describing how his perceptions of bravery had been reshaped by seeing those who stood their ground, and those who fled. "There are more and more people who are forced to go," he told AFP, referring to a large-scale and divisive army mobilisation campaign.

But other servicemen interviewed by AFP suggested that systemic changes in military culture -- and leadership -- could help deter desertions.

Buch said his military and medical training as well as the attitudes of his superiors had improved compared to his first deployment, when some officers "didn't treat us like people". Siver suggested that better psychological support could help troops prepare for the hardships and stress of battle.

"Some people think it's going to be like in a movie. Everything will be great, I'll shoot, I'll run," he said. "But it's different. You sit in a trench for weeks. Some of them are knee-deep in mud, cold and hungry." He said there was no easy solution to discouraging desertion, and predicted the trend would worsen. "How do you reduce the numbers? I don't even know how. We just have to end the war," he said.

Azerbaijani government sources have exclusively confirmed to Euronews on Thursday that a Russian surface-to-air missile caused the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in Aktau on Wednesday.

According to the sources, the missile was fired at Flight 8432 during drone air activity above Grozny, and the shrapnel hit the passengers and cabin crew as it exploded next to the aircraft mid-flight.

Government sources have told Euronews that the damaged aircraft was not allowed to land at any Russian airports despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, and it was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau in Kazakhstan.

According to data, the plane’s GPS navigation systems were jammed throughout the flight path above the sea. (...)

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Three more EU member states — including the most populous, Germany — have joined the list of countries with “ultra-low” fertility rates, highlighting the extent of the region’s demographic challenges.

Official statistics show Germany’s birth rate fell to 1.35 children per woman in 2023, below the UN’s “ultra-low” threshold of 1.4 — characterising a scenario where falling birth rates become tough to reverse.

Estonia and Austria also passed under the 1.4 threshold, joining the nine EU countries — including Spain, Greece and Italy — that in 2022 had fertility rates below 1.4 children per woman.

The fall in birth rates partially reflects the “postponement of parenthood until the 30s”, which involves a “higher likelihood that you will not have as many children as you would like because of the biological clock”, said Willem Adema, senior economist at the OECD.

Without immigration, low fertility rates mean a shrinking working-age population, adding pressures on public finances and limiting economic growth.

With young people reaching milestones, such as buying a house, later in life, the average age of EU women at childbirth rose to 31.1 years in 2023, a year later than a decade ago. The figure rises is 31.4 in Germany, and over 32 years in Spain, Italy and Ireland.

Austria reported a fall to 1.32 children per woman in 2023, down from 1.41 in the previous year. In Estonia, the rate hit 1.31 in 2023, down from 1.41 in the previous year.

Birth rates have fallen across Europe — even in countries such as Finland, Sweden and France, where family-friendly policies and greater gender equality had previously helped boost the number of babies.

In Finland, the birth rate was above the EU average until 2010, but it dropped to 1.26 in 2023, the lowest since the record began in 1776, according to official data.

France had the highest birth rate at 1.79 children per woman in 2022, but the national figures showed it dropped to 1.67 last year, the lowest on record.

Rates fell lower also in countries where they were already ultra-low, reaching 1.12 in Spain and 1.2 in Italy in 2023.

Guangyu Zhang, population affairs officer at the UN, called for governments “to put more family-friendly and gender-responsive policy measures in place”, saying this would enable women and men to have the multiple children that surveys claim they want.

Experts believe economic and political upheaval partly explain the trend of people having fewer children.

“You might have a job, but if you’re worried about losing it, or worried about inflation or worried about conflict in Ukraine, then you still might hesitate to have children,” said Ann Berrington, professor of demography at the University of Southampton.

Changes in social attitudes might also be at play.

Adema said: “The norms of what it means to be a good parent and how intensive you should participate in that are such that quite a few young people say: ‘Well, in addition to the fact that I don’t need children to be happy, it would also be a very difficult job for me to do, and I’m not sure that I can take that responsibility’.”

finland's transmission grid company fingrid announced that estlink 2 disconnected from the grid at 12.26. the power transfer of the connection was 650 mw when it disconnected.

xin xin tian 2 left st petersburg on christmas eve, and according to marinetraffic it is on its way to port said in egypt.

fingrid is currently investigating where the connection was lost. for now it is not certain whether the connection was lost on land or if something happened to the submarine cable. it is also not known whether the xin xin tian 2 vessel had anything to do with the power cable fault.

read also xin xin tian 2 moved near the power cable – this is what is now known about the power connection between finland and estonia being cut – nothing is ruled out, all stones and stumps are being turned and we will see what caused it [the outage]. yes, that [sabotage] is also considered an option, fingrid's control room manager arto pahkin told iltalehti earlier.

There have been other recent incidents of sabotage involving Chinese and Hong Kong-flagged cargo ships in the Baltic Sea.

In November, the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 was suspected of severing two critical telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea. In October last year, the Hong Kong-registered NewNew Polar Bear cargo ship was linked to damage to the BalticConnector gas pipeline.

 Indicative map of the locations of the Estlink cables between Estonia and Finland. il/aleksi nissilä, openstreetmap Article edited on 25.12.2024 at 21.58: The power transmission of the connection has been clarified based on a Fingrid press release.

geteilt von: https://lemmy.zip/post/28641169

The Danish government has announced a huge boost in defence spending for Greenland, hours after US President-elect Donald Trump repeated his desire to purchase the Arctic territory. Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the package was a "double digit billion amount" in krone, or at least $1.5bn (£1.2bn). He described the timing of the announcement as an "irony of fate". On Monday Trump said ownership and control of the huge island was an "absolute necessity" for the US. Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, is home to a large US space facility and is strategically important for the US, lying on its shortest route to Europe. It has major mineral and oil reserves.

Romanian lawmakers narrowly approved a new pro-European coalition government on Monday, led by incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. The move seeks to end a political crisis sparked by far-right gains in recent elections and the annulment of the presidential race.

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cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/50513896

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.wtf/post/14218681