Euobserver.com

Tetiana Yehorova-Lutsenko is Kharkiv's regional council leader. Along with her two boys, they hid in a basement for two weeks amid Russian aerial bombardment. On Wednesday, she met Ukrainian refugees at a Polish train station.

The war in Ukraine has turned attention to the long-standing ties between some European political parties and the Russian government.

European lawmakers urged the EU Commission and governments to act on Hungary after the EU executive said it would start a legal probe against the Orbán government which could lead to the suspension of EU funds.

Human Rights Watch refugee programme director reflects on 14 years of progress in Greece's treatment of migrants — and finds things have gone backwards.

Vadym Boichenko, mayor of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol under siege since early March, said on Wednesday that Russian troops had begun incinerating the bodies of people killed in the city using mobile crematoria. "The killers are covering their tracks," he said on the city council's Telegram channel. Boichenko, citing eyewitnesses, said special special brigades formed by "collaborators" inside the city were used to carry out the work.

Europe set up a rapid decontamination team to protect Ukraine and EU member countries against chemical, biological or nuclear attacks, and sent three million potassium iodide tablets to Ukraine, amid safety worries over the safety the country's nuclear facilities.

Hungary is open to pay in rouble for gas deliveries to Russia, the country's prime minister Viktor Orbán said at a press conference on Wednesday. "If the Russians want to be paid in rouble, we will pay in rouble," he said. The move would mean Hungary is breaking ranks with the EU which has sought a united front in opposing Moscow's demand for payment in the currency.

Russia's attack on Ukraine and European values must remind us how important the enlargement process is, if properly conducted, as a motor for democracy, freedom, peace, the rule of law and prosperity, write six S&D MEPs.

European energy utilities like RWE and Uniper have bought more gas from majority state-owned Russian gas giant Gazprom than at any moment since full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. Orders to send gas through Ukraine via Velke Kapusany, a major entry point in Slovakia, increased from 35 million cubic meters (mcm) at the start of the conflict to 91mcm on Wednesday, figures from the Slovak grid operator Eustream show.

EU institutions have declared 19 Russian diplomats as personae non gratae in the first-ever such expulsions in the history of the Union. The EU foreign service also summoned Russia's EU ambassador, Vladimir Chizhov, Tuesday to explain the 19 were suspected of "illegal and disruptive actions ... against the interests and security of the EU". The decision came amid "mounting reports about atrocities" committed by Russian troops against Ukrainian civilians.

EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn on Tuesday informed the Hungarian authorities that a letter on the official launch of the so-called conditionality mechanism will be sent soon.

EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn on Tuesday informed the Hungarian authorities that a letter on the official launch of the so-called conditionality mechanism will be sent soon.

Although overshadowed by the war in Ukraine, one key campaign instrument of Fidesz was the anti-LGBTQ referendum scheduled parallel to the elections.

EU ambassadors will discuss a new package of sanctions on Wednesday, including a ban on coal imports worth an estimated €4bn per year.

The European Commission proposed on Tuesday to update EU rules for the prevention and control of industrial pollution. New requirements will gradually apply to the largest cattle, pig, and poultry farms, which are responsible for high levels of ammonia and methane. Separately, Brussels presented two bills to reduce fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting potential emissions. This could reduce a similar amount to the total annual greenhouse gas emissions of France by 2050.

European commissioner for energy Kadri Simson is scheduled to attend events that include speakers from Gas Infrastructure Europe, a gas lobby organisation that represents former Kremlin-controlled oil and gas companies, amid the escalating climate crisis.

European commissioner for energy Kadri Simson is scheduled to attend events that include speakers from Gas Infrastructure Europe, a gas lobby organisation that represents former Kremlin-controlled oil and gas companies, amid the escalating climate crisis.

European commissioner for energy Kadri Simson is scheduled to attend events that include speakers from Gas Infrastructure Europe, a gas lobby organisation that represents former Kremlin-controlled oil and gas companies, amid the escalating climate crisis.

Italy, Denmark, Latvia, Spain, and Sweden have joined France and Germany in booting out dozens of Russian diplomats amid disgust over Russian atrocities in Ukraine.

"Of course, communism like it was under Stalin is not going to come back. What will return, however, is national socialism. Not Hitler's, but Putin's." Otto von Habsburg, the son of the last Habsburg emperor, said this back in 2002.