Ukraine and Eastern Europe

The pro-European party of Moldovan President Maia Sandu has won a new majority in parliament in elections seen as critical for her country's future path to the EU. Sandu had warned of "massive Russian interference" after voting, saying the future of her country, flanked by Ukraine and Romania, was at stake. Igor Grosu, the leader of Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), said it had been "an extraordinarily difficult battle" and that Russia had thrown "everything it had" at the election. PAS secured 50% of the vote, with 99.9% of the 1.6m votes counted, far ahead of the pro-Russian Patriotic Electoral Bloc on under 25%. Turnout was 52%, higher than in recent years. One of the main opposition leaders, Igor Dodon, had claimed victory even before results came in and called for protests outside parliament on Monday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the result. "You made your choice clear: Europe. Democracy. Freedom," she wrote on X. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk praised Sandu, saying she had "saved democracy" and "stopped Russia in its attempts to take control over the whole region. A good lesson for us all". Recent Moldovan votes have been far closer, but soon after polls closed it became clear that Sandu's party was on course for another majority in the 101-seat parliament. Four years ago, the president's party won 52.8% of the vote, and based on latest results it is now set to clinch 55 seats. To form a government it will not need to rely on support from other parties, such as the Alternativa bloc or the populist Our Party.

Moldova is voting in crucial parliamentary elections that will determine the country's future. Sunday's general election will be the most crucial since Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia is doing all it can to divert the country from its European course. If a flood of videos on TikTok is to be believed, the people of Moldova are currently living through a reign of terror. These short videos claim that the country is being governed by a "dictatorship" of its pro-European President, Maia Sandu, and the ruling liberal-conservative Action and Solidarity Party (PAS). They also allege that this "puppet regime" has sold itself to the EU and NATO and US billionaire George Soros with a view to destroying Moldova's agriculture, "introducing LGBTQ ideology" and leading the country into a war against the Russian Federation. One of the people who posts such things on TikTok almost daily is former President Igor Dodon, a devoted follower of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Dodon is leader of the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) and head of the Patriotic Electoral Bloc alliance. The logo of the alliance features a red-and-white star surrounding a heart with the Soviet hammer and sickle at its center. Dodon describes himself as right-wing and committed to "traditional values," closing his videos with the Orthodox Christian salutation "God help us!" This blend of hatred of Europe and the West, Soviet nostalgia, loyalty to the Kremlin, Orthodox Christian piety and right-wing populism appeals to a large part of Moldovan society, particularly in view of the precarious economic situation of many people in the country, especially pensioners. On Sunday, Moldovans go to the polls to elect a new parliament. This will be the first scheduled general election since Moldova and Ukraine were granted candidate status by the EU in 20 For months now, the poll has been seen as a pivotal election and one that could take the country either further along the road to the EU or back to Russia. Opinion polls in the country are considered notoriously unreliable. The unpredictability of the vote is further compounded by the fact that almost half of all voters have still not made up their mind who they are going to vote for. Even though Sandu's liberal-conservative, pro-European, anti-corruption civil rights party PAS is expected to remain the strongest party, it might lose the absolute majority it got in 2021. Two other electoral alliances that opinion polls indicate will be represented in the new parliament are both clearly pro-Russian. These are the Patriotic Electoral Bloc and the political alliance known as Alternative, which was founded by Mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban. Our Party (PN) is another party that could enter parliament. It was founded by businessman Renato Usatii, a political adventurer and populist who made his fortune in Russia and is hard to pin down politically. Usatii could end up holding the balance of power and determining whether the country keeps its pro-European government or gets a pro-Russian one.

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital on Sunday morning (7 September)  hitting the building of the Cabinet of Ministers. There are a number of civilian casualties Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenco has officially confirmed that the Cabinet building in Kyiv was damaged in the Russian attack early this morning - the first time the building has been hit. The BBC, citing the Ukrainian air force, said that a record number of drones and missiles were launched by Russia in the latest nightly attack. Ukraine's air force says Russia launched 805 drones and 13 missiles in its overnight attack. Of those, 751 were shot down, the air force says. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenco wrote on social media: "The enemy terrorizes our people across the country every day"  The BBC says it is very rare for Russian missiles and drones to hit right in the city centre like this, because of the concentration of air defence in the area. This time, it seems they were overwhelmed.

The former speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Andriy Parubiy, has been shot dead in the Ukrainian western city of Lviv. Police received reports of the shooting in the Frankivsk district of Lviv, western Ukraine, at around midday local time on Saturday. Unconfirmed reports suggest he was shot multiple times by a gunman dressed as a courier on an e-bike. Parubiy, 54, rose to prominence during Ukraine's Euromaidan movement, which advocated for closer ties with the EU and brought down pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as a "terrible murder" and offered his condolences. Parubiy was a pivotal figure in the Euromaidan movement, which began after the Ukrainian government refused to sign an association agreement with the EU in late 2013. He later became secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, during a period when pro-Russian separatists began fighting in eastern Ukraine - and when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the annexation of the Crimea peninsula. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Parubiy joined Ukraine's territorial defence. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described Parubiy as "a patriot and statesman who made an enormous contribution to the defence of Ukraine's freedom, independence and sovereignty". Sybiha added: "He was a man who rightfully belongs in the history books." Former President Petro Poroshenko said the killing of Parubiy was "a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine".

On Friday afternoon (29 August), the United Nations Security Council held an emergency open briefing on Ukraine   The meeting was requested by Ukraine in a letter it sent on Thursday (28 August) following large-scale Russian aerial attacks conducted overnight on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine. Council members Denmark, France, Greece, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Slovenia, and the UK supported the meeting request. Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenča briefed the Council at the start of the two-hour meeting. Among the participants and speakers was the Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko. Addressing the session, the Head of the EU Delegation to the UN, Ambassador Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, said that the EU objective remains clear: the EU supports an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire. We also welcome the efforts by the US to seek an end to Russia’s war of aggression and to stop the killing. As EU, we contribute to these efforts in order to achieve a just and lasting peace and long-term security for Ukraine and our continent. I urge all members of this Council to use their influence and maximize pressure on Russia to accept an immediate ceasefire and work towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.” He said that the EU will remain united in providing political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine, as it exercises its inherent right of self-defence. We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and in defence of the UN Charter and international law. I respectfully submit that this Council, without any wavering or any hesitation, do the same, at a time when Russia intensifies its killings and continues to pursue its illegal objectives, instead of peace.”

Today (29 August) has been declared a day of mourning in Kyiv after Russia’s drone and missile attack the night before killed at least 23 people, including 4 children. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sharply condemned the strikes, declaring them a sign of Moscow’s rejection of diplomacy and a direct assault on the fragile efforts toward peace. President Donald Trump said he is “not happy but not surprised” with the attack. In contrast, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia would "stop at nothing to terrorise Ukraine".

Relations between Warsaw and Kyiv are heading towards a rift following to a proposal by the Polish president to amend legislation banning symbols in Poland used by Ukrainian nationalists during WWII prohibiting the display of Nazi and communist flags and signs. President Karol Nawrocki said his proposed amendment to the law would lead to the banning of “Banderite symbols” such as the red-and-black flag used by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Stepan Bandera wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).