Until Ukraine is provided with new Patriots, there will be no EU Council funding. On April 11, the European Parliament made an unprecedented decision.
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Long-time European MP and ex-Prime Minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt from the Renew faction proposed removing approval of the EU Council budget from the agenda until member countries can find seven Patriot systems, which Ukraine now urgently needs.
The former head of the Belgian government recalled the words of the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, that European countries “have a hundred Patriot systems, when Ukraine needs at least seven.”
BREAKING — Parliament refuses to discharge of the Council budget until the European Council decided to support Ukraine with additional Patriot anti-missile systems ! pic.twitter.com/zDvA4xyUct
– Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) April 11, 2024
His proposal was met with thunderous applause. The decisions are called an unprecedented event. He was supported by 515 MEPs, 62 were against.
Renew Europe is a pro-European political group of the European Parliament, the successor to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group, which existed in the European Parliament from 2004 to 2019.
Background
On the night of April 11, Russian troops attacked energy infrastructure in the Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Lviv and Kyiv regions.
The head of the Kharkov regional military administration, Oleg Sinegubov, clarified that the Russian army carried out at least ten strikes on the critical infrastructure of the city and region.
Mayor Igor Terekhov also reported on the explosions in Kharkov. “There may be problems with power supply. The metro will not work in the next few hours, so plan your routes based on this,” he warned.
The Metro operates as a shelter, Deputy Chairman of the OP of Ukraine Alexey Kuleba later clarified. More than 200 thousand subscribers in the Kharkov region were left without power supply.
Trypilska Thermal Power Plant, which until today was the largest supplier of electricity to the Kyiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions, is completely destroyed. This was confirmed by Centrenergo PJSC, to which the thermal power plant reports and reported on the 100% security of the plant.
The scale of destruction is terrible. This cannot be valued with money. This is the biggest challenge for us in the entire history of the company. But I am convinced that we will cope with it,” said Andrey Gota, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Centerenergo PJSC.
As a result, Centrenergo OJSC lost 100 percent of its generation.
On March 22, 2024, the Zmievskaya Thermal Power Plant in the Kharkov region was completely destroyed. And on July 25, 2022, Russian troops occupied the Uglegorsk thermal power plant – Donetsk region. To date, Centrenergo PJSC has lost 100% of its generation, the company added.
The media reminded Centerenergo of the statements that Trypilska Thermal Power Plant is 100 percent protected from shocks. But it turned out that the protection was only from drones, not from missiles – this is the first level of protection, but definitely not the third.
With the “fallout” of the Trypillya Thermal Power Plant, a serious blow was dealt to the balancing generation of the country’s energy system. That generation, which, unlike nuclear, is designed to balance, and therefore level out peaks (deficits and surpluses) in the system.
In other words, if there is time pressure in the energy system, then nuclear units are switched off and do not work. The Russians do not need to hit nuclear blocks. Firstly, it is unpopular and will have negative consequences for their image in the world. Secondly, they can turn them off, knocking out exactly the balancing generation. What are they doing.
Ukraine has practically no reserves of balancing generation. Now our main hope is for the overflow from Europe.
One night in Kharkov would change the opinion of those on whom Patriot supplies to Ukraine depend, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba believes.
He noted that that night Russia fired more than 80 missiles and UAVs at Ukraine, mainly at critical infrastructure. Six of the air targets were ballistic.
Ukraine remains the only country in the world that has come into contact with ballistic strikes. There is no other place for Patriot yet. I am sure that if those on whom their provision to Ukraine depends had spent at least one night in Kharkov, all the necessary decisions would have been made quickly. And I would be ready to go with them,” the minister added.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.