live blog
Status: 06/25/2022 03:29 am
In the Georgian capital Tbilisi, around 120,000 people took to the streets in support of EU accession. A nationwide air alert went off in Ukraine overnight. The developments in the live blog.
3:27 a.m
Tens of thousands of Georgians are demanding EU membership
In the Georgian capital Tbilisi, around 120,000 people took to the streets in support of EU accession and against their own government. The demonstrators waved Georgian and EU flags and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili – a day after the EU denied the country candidate status.
Addressing the crowd in a video message during the protests, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said: “We are free people, free countries and will always remain free. Ukraine will help Georgia find its way to Europe.” Ukraine and Georgia stand together forever, he said to applause from the crowd.
At a summit meeting in Brussels on Thursday, the EU declared Ukraine and Moldova to be EU accession candidates – but not Georgia. EU Council President Charles Michel had declared that the EU was also prepared in principle to give Georgia candidate status. However, a number of reforms would still have to be implemented in the country for this to happen.
3:00 a.m
Acceptance of Ukrainian refugees well managed so far
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser takes a largely positive view of the distribution and reception of war refugees from Ukraine in Germany. “We have made sure that refugees have good medical care, social security and direct access to jobs. The best way to do this is through the job centers, which have prepared intensively to support many refugees,” said Faeser of the “Rheinische Post”. .
Nevertheless, this remains a great effort. The same applies to the schools and day-care centers that have taken in refugee children. “In big cities, we also need additional accommodation to relieve private landlords,” emphasized the SPD politician. The federal government continues to support the municipalities and states in this task.
2:24 a.m
Nationwide air alert in Ukraine triggered
In Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, a nationwide air alert was triggered overnight. This emerged from a corresponding overview of the situation in the country. As reported by the Ukrainian news site 24tv, there were reports of explosions from the city of Zaporizhia in the south-east of the country – as well as from the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The exact background was initially unclear.
1:50 a.m
Expert: Thousands of dolphins perished because of war
Conservationists link the deaths of thousands of dolphins in the Black Sea to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. At least 3,000 animals have died, research leader Ivan Rusev wrote on Facebook. The use of sonar technology and explosions destroyed the animals’ “sensitive navigation system”. They can no longer catch enough fish and are therefore more susceptible to infectious diseases.
The result is that more animals are dying, explained the expert at a national park near Odessa in southern Ukraine. According to him, there are also reports of dead animals from Bulgaria and Romania. “We are asking anyone who sees dead dolphins on the beach to report it.”