Europe

Archived

Kyiv has presented Beijing with evidence that Chinese citizens and companies have participated in Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry reported on April 22.

The report comes less than a week after President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that China is supplying weapons to the Russian military.

"I think we will be able to say in detail next week that we believe that Chinese representatives are engaged in the production of some weapons on the territory of Russia," Zelensky said on April 17.

During a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Ma Shengkun, Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgen Perebyinis shared evidence that Chinese citizens and companies are involved in the war in Ukraine.

The ministry cited the participation of Chinese nationals in combat in Ukraine alongside Russian troops and Chinese businesses' role in producing military equipment for Russia.

These matters "are of serious concern and contradict the spirit of partnership between Ukraine and the People's Republic of China," the ministry said.

Ukrainian special services shared evidence of allegations with the Chinese, the Foreign Ministry reported.

Perebyinis also called for China to "take measures to stop supporting Russia" in its aggression against Ukraine, and assured that Ukraine "values ​​its strategic partnership with China and expects that China will refrain from taking steps that could hinder bilateral relations."

[...]

Although China has officially claimed neutrality with regard to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has deepened economic ties with Moscow, supported Russia against Western sanctions, and emerged as a top supplier of dual-use goods that feed the Russian defense sector.

Earlier this month, Ukraine captured two Chinese citizens fighting for Russia in Donetsk Oblast. President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that "several hundred" Chinese nationals are fighting on Russia's side in the war.

[...]

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has taken at least 744,000 Ukrainian children to its territory, mostly accompanied by their parents, according to Daria Zarivna, Head of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative. Her remarks were published in an Espresso interview on April 19.

“Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine had approximately seven million children. According to human rights organizations, about 1.6 million children remain in temporarily occupied territories. Russia has stated that it took at least 744,000 children to its territory, mostly with their parents,” Zarivna said.

[...]

Due to the lack of access, it is unclear how many children have died, how many have been separated from their parents, or how many were born after February 2022.

According to official Ukrainian data, 19,546 cases of unlawful deportation or forced displacement of children have been documented. “The real number is much higher, but Russia blocks access to information, preventing a full assessment of the scale of this crime,” Zarivna added.

Through the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, Ukraine has managed to return 1,269 children—449 over the past year, and 18 in March 2025 alone.

[...]

Children are taken to filtration camps or sent deeper into occupied regions, where they are housed in “re-education camps,” orphanages, or medical facilities.

[...]

In other instances, children are forcibly taken from institutions. “Russia abducted 48 children from the Kherson Infant Home alone, many of whom have already been adopted by Russian families,” Zarivna said.

One example cited in the interview involved 17-year-old Vlad Rudenko from the Kherson region. Russian soldiers entered his home while he was alone, ordered him to pack his belongings, and transported him and his siblings to a military college in Crimea. Only months later was his mother able to locate him and begin the process to bring him home.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that over 3,000 children were forcibly deported from occupied areas of Kherson during the summer of 2024 under the pretense of “vacation” programs. According to his statement, the children were taken to camps in remote Russian regions, where they were subjected to “re-education” activities aimed at erasing their Ukrainian identity.

The European Commission imposed a 500 million euro ($571 million) fine on Apple for preventing app makers from pointing users to cheaper options outside its App Store.

The commission, which is the EU’s executive arm, also fined Meta Platforms 200 million euros because it forced Facebook and Instagram users to choose between seeing ads or paying to avoid them.

... people today are less concerned about the type of vehicle they travel in, and more about how useful it is. To many of us, what matters most is simply getting where we’re going rather than how we look while doing it.

More than technology, mobility has always been governed by social trends and cultural norms that evolve over time. The currently transport revolution therefore no longer depends solely on a group of engineers, but on understanding users’ true needs.

...

The way we move around in Europe is not just changing because of technology, but also because of how we think. For future transport systems to work, we need to understand how different people view, use, and adapt to these new ways of moving.

This means that governments, companies, and innovators need to work together. It’s not enough for transport to be fast or eco-friendly, it must also be accessible and affordable for everyone, taking into account the unique needs of each section of society. This means technology cannot be disconnected from real life. We need to teach people how to use digital tools, make sure everyone has access to new services, and design systems that fit the way people actually live.

https://archive.ph/BKwhw

• Zelenskiy says Chinese nationals help Russian drone production
• Says Russia may have obtained technology without China knowing
• Chinese ambassador summoned to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry

• Russian attacks target Dutch public service and infrastructure
• China threat via support for Russia, chip industry espionage
• MIVD urges scaling up military to match Russia's pace

Russia is increasing its hybrid attacks aimed at undermining society in the Netherlands and its European allies, and Russian hackers have already targeted the Dutch public service, Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD said.

"We see the Russian threat against Europe is increasing, including after a possible end to the war against Ukraine," MIVD director Peter Reesink said in the agency's annual report.

[...]

Western countries have in recent years said hybrid threats by Russia and China were becoming increasingly more aggressive.

Such threats could include everything from physical sabotage of critical infrastructure to disinformation campaigns, espionage and cyber attacks in a bid to influence or undermine society, the agency said.

It repeated its warnings of Russian entities mapping infrastructure in the North Sea for espionage, and acts of sabotage aimed at internet cables, water and energy supplies.

Britain's foreign spy chief accused Russia in November of a "staggeringly reckless campaign" of sabotage in Europe, ranging from repeated cyber attacks to arson.

[...]

China also still poses a serious threat to Europe through its support for Russia's war efforts and aggressive stance towards Taiwan, the report said. It was continuing its efforts to gain Western knowledge through investments and espionage, especially in the Dutch semiconductor industry, it added.

The MIVD said last year Chinese cyber espionage was more extensive than initially thought, targeting Western governments and defence companies.

Reesink reinforced the message shared by European allies that the military needed to be scaled up.

"If you look at the speed at which Russia is increasing its military complex, its equipment, its artillery, it's by far much faster than we do in Europe, even in the U.S. So that creates a sort of window of vulnerability for us," he said.

[...]

• Major Russian banks set up netting system for China trade
• Aim is to cut risk of secondary sanctions
• System has lower commissions, is set to expand
• Xi due to visit Russia in May, meet Putin

Major Russian banks have set up a netting payments system dubbed "The China Track" for transactions with China, aiming to reduce their visibility to Western regulators and mitigate the risk of secondary sanctions.

[...]

Russia's trade with China hit a record $245 billion last year despite payment problems and commissions running as high as 12%, as Chinese banks had grown too cautious to do business with Russia and jeopardise their ties with the United States.

[...]

The issue had become so important that Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping discussed it during Putin's visit to China in May 2024, which was aimed at cementing the two countries' 'no limits' partnership.

Xi is set to take part in Russia's Victory Day parade on May 9, but his visit is now taking place amid China's trade war with the United States, making the booming trade with Russia and other non-Western nations more important.

[...]

The new system has been set up by major sanctioned banks and involves a web of intermediaries registered in countries that Russia considers friendly. The system has been in place for some time and has not yet suffered any major setbacks.

Each bank runs several verified payments agents, some of whom handle payments for exports, and some for imports. All payments are then netted centrally at the bank with all the counterparties involved receiving their money.

The banks settle trade in both directions, said market sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

[...]

https://archive.is/Zf6wu

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/62091365

Apparently, Ukrainian drones pushed through and started a chain reaction.

Explosions reportedly continued for hours, and authorities evacuated nearby settlements. Initial reports indicate that the site, previously protected by one of Russia’s densest air defense networks, suffered catastrophic damage.

A record-breaking tunnel is being built under the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany, which will slash travel times and improve Scandinavia's links with the rest of Europe.

Running for 18km (11 miles), the Fehmarnbelt will be the world's longest pre-fabricated road and rail tunnel.

BRUSSELS, April 21 (Reuters) - The European Union is determined to enforce its full digital rule book no matter who is in charge of companies such as X, Meta, Apple and Tiktok or where they are based, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Politico.

The European Union will not decouple from the Chinese economy as a condition for reaching a trade deal with Donald Trump's administration, the European Commission said on Tuesday amid reports that the White House has asked countries to do exactly that.

Residential communities in Spain are now allowed to bar individual property owners from using their apartment as a holiday let under new legislation that came into force this month.

The fact that the relative distance between the US and Europe under Trump is increasing does not yet mean that the absolute distance between Europe and China has been reduced.

...

In recent years [...] China changed internally, with an increasing concentration of power around Xi, and because China was externally more assertive, if not more aggressive. In Brussels and the capitals [...] there was dialogue [on Europe-China cooperation] about anything and everything, but the effect, in the sense of policy adjustments or actual cooperation, was difficult to see.

As a result, the number of disagreements increased to an impressive laundry list. Europe complained about Chinese support to Russia in the war against Ukraine and repeatedly said that this seriously burdened relations with the EU. China responded with vague language that it was neutral and used commonplaces about the importance of territorial integrity. Meanwhile, exports of dual-use goods, which are used for both civilian and military purposes, increased, and Moscow can continue its aggression in part.

...

In Beijing, there is growing fear over a stagnant economy with sky-high debts in a country struggling with poor demographics ...

[Europe] must now tell China that it wants to do business and will not follow Trump and his unilateral trade tariffs. But something really needs to change in China's behaviour. We don't want another charm offensive, but real steps – and Beijing knows very well what this entails.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the EU and China. A great opportunity to celebrate with a new summit. It is already a big deal that EU leaders will probably travel to Beijing for this, while it is actually Chinese leaders' turn to come to Brussels. But this summit should yield more than a photo opportunity. That is why the message to China must now be: European leaders will only board the plane if China is ready to finally tackle the laundry list of problems. Not with empty words, but with tangible deeds. If China is not prepared to do so, we can better postpone that summit.

Archived version

The Russian disinformation network Matryoshka has launched its first large-scale campaign aimed at Moldova. Videos mimicking the style of global media outlets or academic institutions have begun circulating on platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky, according to the Bot Blocker project (@antibot4navalny), which shared its findings with The Insider. These videos allege that Moldovan President Maia Sandu’s victory in the November 2024 election was achieved thanks to her campaign’s propaganda efforts, and that since winning reelection she has engaged in the repression of her political opponents.

...

Aside from accusations of corruption and pressure on political opponents, the videos featuring “university professors” include standard Kremlin propaganda narratives. One claims that President Sandu is a member of the LGBTQ community and that under her leadership, “non-traditional values” in Moldova will inevitably displace “traditional” ones. Another video alleges that Sandu plans to follow “Ukraine’s example” by seeking control over the Orthodox Church — specifically, by transferring the Chișinău Diocese from the Russian Orthodox Church to its Romanian counterpart. According to the video’s creators, this would be a step toward the full unification of Moldova with Romania.

...

A total of ten videos have been released so far — four disguised as content from major media outlets and six as faux academic lectures — along with one fake magazine cover. According to the Bot Blocker project, only one previous fake video about Moldova linked to the Matryoshka network had been identified. That video, circulated in June 2024 in Romanian, was styled as a public service announcement supposedly shown in online cinemas. It promoted tolerance toward people with disabilities and LGBTQ individuals, with the intended effect of frightening viewers and turning them against “European” values.

Despite the Kremlin’s disinformation efforts, Sandu won the presidential election last November with 55.35% in the second round of voting. But that’s not the end of the story. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September 2025, and Alexandru Musteață, head of Moldova’s Information and Security Service (SIS), has already warned that Russia may attempt to interfere in them.

...

Francesco Sciortino, co-founder and CEO of German startup Proxima Fusion, believes fusion energy can complement wind and solar power and become a “decisive building block” for Europe’s energy security.

“Fusion holds the potential to fundamentally transform the way we think about energy, changing the world from a place that’s controlled by those with reserves of oil and gas, to one where technology lets countries control their own fate,” he told TNW.

Archived link

In the era of Trump 2.0, the first question British defence companies are facing when trying to export their weapons abroad is whether they are independent of the US arms industry. Or simply, are they “Itar-free”?

Itar, which stands for the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, refers to a set of longstanding US rules that govern the items on the United States Munitions List, which is aimed at safeguarding national security.

The list contains US-produced software, components and other technology that can be used for either military purposes or serve a dual use. If a weapon is subject to Itar, it cannot be built, sold or supplied to someone else without US consent and support.

One defence industry source said: “Even if you have US engineers, you become Itar-tainted.”

To employ ex-US military employees, UK companies would become subject to Itar restrictions if they have not been granted an exemption.

Although the restrictions are nothing new, a combination of Trump’s tariffs, vague threats to Canada and Denmark and pause on providing military aid and intelligence to Ukraine has left defence companies and governments thinking twice before investing in American components or equipment.

...

Helsing, a European defence tech company, and Auterion, a supplier of drone operating systems with a European headquarters in Munich, also pride themselves on having Itar-free equipment.

Helsing has pursued the policy because it “was founded on the principle of providing sovereign capabilities for a strong Europe”, according to Amelia Gould, the company’s global maritime director.

“Europe has this technology, we don’t need to import everything from the US,” she added.

Brinley Salzmann, the director of overseas and exports for ADS, a defence trade association, said that what was once a preference for Itar-free weapons was quickly becoming a requirement.

He said: “As international collaboration increases and governments seek greater control over their supply chains, the ability to operate without US extraterritorial export restrictions is becoming a strategic consideration.”

...

Paywall? https://archive.is/JS7dw