Eurotopics.net

Mysterious explosions at Russia's Engels-2 and Dyagilevo military airbases on Monday: two bomber aircraft were damaged by drone attacks at the Engels airbase and one at the Dyagilevo, where three people were also killed. The two bases are well beyond the range of the drones Ukraine is officially known to have, but Russia is still blaming Ukraine. Europe's commentators also see this as likely.

China's government has reacted to the massive protests against its zero-Covid policy and announced that it will ease Covid regulations. Among other measures, infected people will be able to isolate at home rather than having to go to state quarantine facilities, and lockdowns will be limited and no longer affect entire cities or rural areas. But that won't solve Xi's problems, commentators predict.

At the EU-Western Balkans summit in Tirana, EU leaders have affirmed their determination to accelerate the EU accession process for the Western Balkan states. A precondition for integration is "credible reforms" in Albania, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo, as well as their support for sanctions against Russia. According to the summit's final declaration, the Balkan states will also receive one billion euros to tackle the energy crisis. What further steps are needed?

At the meeting of EU finance ministers, Hungary has refused to approve 18 billion euros in financial aid for Ukraine. Although Prime Minister Viktor Orbán denies it, the veto is widely interpreted as a means of putting pressure on Brussels to turn a blind eye to Hungary's deficits in the area of the rule of law. The decision on the EU Commission's proposal to freeze certain EU funds for Hungary has been postponed.