Moldova

Lithuania does not consider the March 15-17 presidential elections in russia to be a legitimate democratic expression of will due to repression, fraud, coercion, suppression of the opposition and independent media, and the absence of OSCE observers, which makes Vladimir Putin's new "government" lack any democratic legitimacy.

Ukraine expects to start accession negotiations with the EU in the first half of 2024 after the European Council approves the negotiation framework.

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the so-called "presidential elections" in Russia. The ministry said that they cannot be considered legal, free and fair.

Moldova, together with NATO, conducted the Coherent Resilience 2024 exercise aimed at increasing the resilience of its critical energy infrastructure to cyber and hybrid threats.

Josep Borrell called for continued support for Ukraine, warning of serious risks to the security of Europe and the United States.

More than two dozen heads of parliamentary foreign affairs committees, including the United States and Israel, signed a statement denying the legitimacy of the elections held by Russia in the occupied Ukrainian territories.

The Moldovan government says that Russia is violating the law by printing ballots in the Transnistrian region ahead of its presidential "elections.

The First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine met with the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Moldova to discuss European integration, bilateral relations, and Ukraine's expectations regarding the participation of the President of Moldova in the Global Peace Summit.

Ukraine has a clear procedure on its way to EU membership and is systematically following it, and President Zelenskyy hopes to start negotiations in the first half of this year after the European Commission approves the framework for negotiations.

The European Parliament has approved the extension of the suspension of import duties and quotas on exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU for another year until June 5, 2025, and extended the suspension of all duties on imports from Moldova until July 24, 2025.

Ukraine's national football team will play an away match against Poland on June 7, the venue and time of which will be announced later, followed by a friendly match against Moldova in Chisinau on June 11, and two more control matches with opponents will be announced after the signing of the relevant contracts.

Moldova sees Russia's attempts to destabilize the country by using political puppets, oligarchs and financing protests ahead of the presidential elections in Russia.

Ukraine will receive the first batches of shells under the Czech ammunition initiative in the foreseeable future, which will allow Ukrainian forces at the front to experience an increase in supplies in the near future.

On March 12, 2024, employees of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine and diplomats evacuated another 47 Ukrainian citizens from the Gaza Strip. The total number of evacuated Ukrainians from the Gaza Strip during the three stages of the mission amounted to 363 people.

The European Commission has submitted to the EU Council proposals for a draft negotiation framework for the accession of Ukraine and Moldova to the EU, which sets out the guidelines and principles for accession negotiations with the two candidate countries.

Zelenskyy believes that putin may launch a ground operation in non-nuclear countries such as Moldova or the Baltic states to destabilize them and strengthen his negotiating position.

A Russian citizen, identified as a former Wagner mercenary, was denied entry to Moldova and returned to the country of origin.

The EU will propose a negotiation framework for the accession of Ukraine and Moldova, but formal negotiations are unlikely to begin before the June 2024 European Parliament elections due to the need for agreement among all 27 EU member states.

On March 12, the European Commission plans to announce the start of negotiations on Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to the EU.

Georgia is demanding that Ukraine extradite former Georgian officials convicted of crimes who now hold high positions in the Ukrainian government, claiming that this contradicts the traditional friendship between the two countries.

Moldova summoned the Russian ambassador to express its disapproval of Russia's decision to open polling stations in the Transnistrian region for voting in the Russian presidential election.

Two men from Zaporizhzhia region were detained at the state border while attempting to illegally cross the border with the Transnistrian region of Moldova using a telescopic ladder to overcome an anti-transportation ditch, and were charged with administrative charges.

Due to favorable weather conditions and excessive production of electricity at solar power plants in Ukraine, renewable electricity generation has been limited, and no shortage of electricity is expected.

A resident of Odesa, wearing a latex mask, raincoat and wetsuit, was detained by border guards while trying to illegally cross the Ukrainian-Moldovan border by swimming across the Dniester River.

Russians damaged equipment at a Ukrenergo substation in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and gas distribution networks in Kharkiv Oblast, but consumers were not left without electricity and gas supply.

A Russian drone attacked a 330 kV Ukrenergo substation in Zaporizhzhya Region. There were also temporary blackouts in Odessa, Kharkiv, Kirovograd, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Zelenskyy believes that Russia could launch a military offensive against Moldova, the Baltic states, and Kazakhstan.

A fire broke out at a mine in Donetsk region due to shelling, and a transformer caught fire at a substation in Odesa region, causing a blackout, but Ukraine's electricity production is sufficient to meet consumer needs without scheduled outages.

Russia is trying to use the unrecognized regions of Transnistria and Gagauzia to conduct hybrid operations and destabilize Moldova on the eve of EU accession talks and presidential elections.

Ukraine has shared intelligence with Moldova that helped the country prepare for and avoid a russian coup attempt, but Moldova, like other countries in the region, remains under threat of potential russian aggression.