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The European public remains unwaveringly committed to Ukraine

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The European public remains unwaveringly committed to Ukraine

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

European leaders cannot afford to feel complacent. Quite the opposite: they must act decisively and renew their commitments of support so Ukraine can effectively push back and win, Viktor Mak writes.

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In the two years since Russia launched its unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine, the vigorous international support that erupted in response has begun to wane. 

The recent spectacle of horse-trading at the US Congress on a new $61-billion funding package, together with emerging divergences of opinion in Europe, indicates that competing priorities are leading to a slow dilution of commitments. 

While Russia may have intended to win with a shock and awe approach, it seems it may be having more success with the long play of attrition and waiting for splits to emerge in the Western alliance.

And while governments in Europe and the US increasingly deliberate over aid, the need for help, if anything, is greater now than at the start of the war as its impacts bury deep into Ukrainian society. 

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Millions in need of concrete help

Alongside the extensive military requirements, there are the fundamental needs of a society thrust into near-catastrophic disruption by its imperialistic neighbour. 

There are around 3.7 million internally displaced people struggling to make ends meet. Many are forced to fill the shortfall left by temporary and poorly paid work with humanitarian aid and social security payments. 

A quarter of Ukraine’s population is elderly, many dependent on thinning state pensions, even in a country where intergenerational family support is the norm. Hard hit also are those military and civilian individuals injured by the conflict. 

There are 300,000 more disabled people in Ukraine now than there were at the start of the war.

Where governments’ support is uncertain, individuals and civil society remain steadfast and continue to make a difference. 

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Since the outbreak of the war, the principal vehicle for getting aid to those in need has been the UNITED24 initiative, launched by Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 5 May 2022. 

To date, this platform has collected over €424 million in individual donations. It has helped finance the provision of 48,000 pieces of body armour and 65,000 uniforms for Ukrainian army officials, the acquisition of 30 drones for direct military activity, and the purchase of 35 ALV machines and 10 X-ray machines for medical staff sited on Ukraine’s eastern front.

Others in Europe are chipping in, too

Smaller organisations in Europe have also intervened with great effect. One example is Vitsche, a Berlin-based NGO founded by displaced Ukrainians to counter Russian disinformation efforts and stimulate grassroots support for those fighting on the frontlines. 

In its latest grassroots campaign, Vitsche amassed €30,000 in just three days for the purchase and delivery of an emergency medical unit for hospitals in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. 

This campaign, which was amplified by prominent German social media influencers, will help frontline medical staff evacuate soldiers and civilians quickly and provide a space for potentially life-saving treatment at the frontlines. 

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It also follows on from a series of other successful initiatives to get key provisions into Ukraine in the absence of government-level support.

In the UK, the transport operator Go-Ahead, together with Swindon Humanitarian Aid Partnership, crowd-sourced the purchase of four buses for frontline use across eastern Ukraine. These are now providing Ukrainian service personnel with rest areas and mobile field hospitals. 

Another has been redecorated to feature an enchanted forest and transformed into a children’s Story Bus to provide young people with much-needed respite. 

In Poland, the NGO Project HOPE is delivering primary health care, rehabilitation and psychological support to Ukrainian refugees, including providing mental health assistance to nearly 4,000 children.

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Even in Hungary, a country aligned more with the Kremlin than Kyiv, there have been remarkable, if underreported, acts of civic aid. 

The ecological NGO “10 million trees” drew on its community of supporters to defy blanket state media criticism of Ukraine and successfully finance the purchase and delivery of vital provisions to those on the frontline as part of a “Christmas in Kyiv” campaign. Donations included warm clothes and generators to power critical infrastructure during the winter.

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The promises we keep

From the outset, European citizens have shown unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s fight for self-determination — providing support and aid that is filling the gaps left by political intransigence and in-fighting. 

European leaders cannot afford to feel complacent with the recently approved US aid package for Kyiv. Quite the opposite, they must act decisively and renew their commitments of support so Ukraine can effectively push back and win.

As the leading historian of the region Timothy Snyder has stated, time and again, it is imperative that we uphold our promises of support to Ukraine, both for the defence of their international rights as a free and sovereign country and in order to keep the peace here in Europe.

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Viktor Mak is co-director of the European Centre for Digital Action (ECDA).

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UAE cuts funding for citizens studying at UK universities over campus radicalization fears: report

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UAE cuts funding for citizens studying at UK universities over campus radicalization fears: report

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is removing funding for its citizens to study in the United Kingdom, citing concerns they could be radicalized abroad. 

The move means the UAE has removed British universities from a list of higher education institutions eligible for state scholarships amid growing tensions over London’s decision not to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, The Financial Times reported. 

“[The UAE] don’t want their kids to be radicalized on campus,” a person directly involved with the decision told the outlet. 

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA ORDERED TO REINSTATE LAW STUDENT WHO WAS EXPELLED AFTER ANTI-JEWISH COMMENTS

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A “Welcome to the People’s University for Palestine” banner at King’s College at the University of Cambridge May 11, 2024, in Cambridge, U.K.  (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Since then, Emirati students who have applied to their government for scholarships to study in the U.K. have been denied. 

The move also means that the UAE will not recognize qualifications from academic institutions that are not on its accredited list, rendering degrees from U.K. universities less valuable than others, according to the report. 

NYC STUDENTS EXPOSE ‘EXTREMIST’ PROFESSORS FOSTERING CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM AT MAJOR UNIVERSITIES

The skyline in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where funding for its citizens to study in the United Kingdom has been halted.  (Vidhyaa Chandramohan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“All forms of extremism have absolutely no place in our society, and we will stamp them out wherever they are found,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said in a statement. “We offer one of the best education systems in the world and maintain stringent measures on student welfare and on-campus safety.”

The UAE has taken a hardline approach to Islamist movements abroad and at home. 

During the 2023-24 school year, 70 students at U.K. universities were reported for possible referral to the government’s deradicalization program, the report states. 

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UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan has repeatedly questioned the U.K.’s decision to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. 

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Starmer’s administration last year said the matter was under “close review.”

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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,416

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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,416

These are the key developments from day 1,416 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

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Here is where things stand on Saturday, January 10:

Fighting:

  • The death toll from a massive Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv that began on Thursday night has risen to four, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service wrote in an update shared on Facebook on Friday. At least 25 people were also injured, including five rescuers, the service added.
  • The attack left thousands of Kyiv apartments without heat, electricity and water as temperatures fell to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and other local officials said.
  • Klitschko called on people to temporarily leave the city, saying on Telegram that “half of apartment buildings in Kyiv – nearly 6,000 – are currently without heating because the capital’s critical infrastructure was damaged by the enemy’s massive attack”.
  • Russian forces shelled a hospital in the Ukrainian city of Kherson just after midday on Friday, damaging the intensive care unit and injuring three nurses, the regional prosecutor’s office wrote on Telegram.
  • “As a result of the attack, three nurses aged 21, 49, and 52 were wounded. At the time of the shelling, the women were inside the medical facility,” the office said in a statement.
  • The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, condemned attacks on healthcare in Ukraine in a statement shared on X, saying that there had been nine attacks since the beginning of 2026, killing one patient, one medic and injuring 11 others, including healthcare workers and patients.
  • Tedros said that the attacks further “complicated the delivery of health care during the winter period” and called for “the protection of health care facilities, patients and health workers”.
  • Russian forces attacked two foreign-flagged civilian vessels with drones in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, killing a Syrian national and injuring another, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba and other officials said on Friday.
  • A Ukrainian drone attack on a bus in Russia’s Belgorod region injured four people, the regional task force reported, according to Russia’s TASS state news agency.
  • Russian forces seized five settlements in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, including Zelenoye, the Russian Ministry of Defence said, according to TASS.
  • Ukrainian battlefield monitoring site DeepState said on Friday that Russian forces advanced in Huliaipole and Prymorske in the Zaporizhia region, but did not report any further changes.
  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Russia’s Oreshnik missile strike late on Thursday was “demonstratively” close to Ukraine’s border with the European Union.
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency has begun consultations to establish a temporary ceasefire zone near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after military activity damaged one of two high-voltage power lines, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement on Friday.

Sanctions

  • US forces seized the Olina oil tanker and forced it to return to Venezuela so its oil could be sold “through the GREAT Energy Deal”, United States President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday. According to The Associated Press news agency, US government records showed that the Olina had been sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M.
  • Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Olha Stefanishyna, said that Ukrainian nationals were among members of the crew of the Russian-flagged tanker Marinera seized earlier this week by US forces over its links to Venezuela, according to Interfax Ukraine news agency.
  • The Russian Foreign Ministry separately said on Friday that the US had released two Russian crewmembers from the Marinera, expressing gratitude to Washington for the decision and pledging to ensure the return home of crewmembers.

Politics and diplomacy

  • Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “deep regret” over damage to its embassy in Kyiv, confirming that no diplomats or staff were hurt, in a statement on Friday. The ministry underscored the importance of protecting diplomatic buildings and reiterated its call for a “resolution to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis through dialogue and peaceful means”.
  • British Defence Secretary John Healey said that the United Kingdom was allocating 200 million pounds ($270m) to fund preparations for the possible deployment of troops to Ukraine, during a visit to Kyiv on Friday.
  • The leaders of Britain, France and Germany described Russia’s use of an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile in western Ukraine as “escalatory and unacceptable”, according to a readout of their call released by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office on Friday.
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Some flu measures decline, but it’s not clear this severe season has peaked

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Some flu measures decline, but it’s not clear this severe season has peaked

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. flu infections showed signs of a slight decline last week, but health officials say it is not clear that this severe flu season has peaked.

New government data posted Friday — for flu activity through last week — showed declines in medical office visits due to flu-like illness and in the number of states reporting high flu activity.

However, some measures show this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history. And experts believe there is more suffering ahead.

“This is going to be a long, hard flu season,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, in a statement Friday.

One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that is the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 91% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.

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The last flu season saw the highest overall flu hospitalization rate since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. And child flu deaths reached 289, the worst recorded for any U.S. flu season this century — including that H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009-2010.

So far this season, there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses and 180,000 hospitalizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. It also estimates there have been 7,400 deaths, including the deaths of at least 17 children.

Last week, 44 states reported high flu activity, down slightly from the week before. However, flu deaths and hospitalizations rose.

Determining exactly how flu season is going can be particularly tricky around the holidays. Schools are closed, and many people are traveling. Some people may be less likely to see a doctor, deciding to just suffer at home. Others may be more likely to go.

Also, some seasons see a surge in cases, then a decline, and then a second surge.

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For years, federal health officials joined doctors’ groups in recommending that everyone 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine. The shots may not prevent all symptoms but can prevent many infections from becoming severe, experts say.

But federal health officials on Monday announced they will no longer recommend flu vaccinations for U.S. children, saying it is a decision parents and patients should make in consultation with their doctors.

“I can’t begin to express how concerned we are about the future health of the children in this country, who already have been unnecessarily dying from the flu — a vaccine preventable disease,” said Michele Slafkosky, executive director of an advocacy organization called Families Fighting Flu.

“Now, with added confusion for parents and health care providers about childhood vaccines, I fear that flu seasons to come could be even more deadly for our youngest and most vulnerable,” she said in a statement.

Flu is just one of a group of viruses that tend to strike more often in the winter. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, also have been rising in recent weeks — though were not diagnosed nearly as often as flu infections, according to other federal data.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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