Ukraine won’t cut its defense budget next year. On Thursday, Secretary of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov Turchynov said that “despite all difficulties, the spending on security and defense must not decrease.” According to Ukraine’s military doctrine, Kiev must allocate at least 3 percent of the country’s GDP for defense. In September, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it needed a $3.1-billion funding for 2016. Considering an aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric in Ukrainian media and the Ukraine’s military spendings, it’s hard to believe that Kiev is ready to implemet Minsk agreements de-facto.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry sent its 42nd humanitarian aid convoy to residents of Donbass on Thursday. Over 100 vehicles will deliver more than 1,000 metric tons of humanitarian cargo to Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Overall, Russia has delivered more than 50,000 metric tons of humanitarian aid to Donbass since August 2014. In turn, Martin Sajdik, Special Representative of OSCE in Ukraine, told on Tuesday that UN aid convoys had been unable to reach Donbass because of the so-called “access challenges”.
A fire has broken out at a camp for asylum seekers in Slovenia on October 22. It was not clear whether asylum seekers lit the fire in protest at poor conditions at the transit camp just inside Slovenia, or whether it was started to keep warm in the winter temperatures and then got out of control. No-one was injured in the blaze which was said to have engulfed 27 tents at the Brezice camp. About 11,000 people are estimated to be stuck in Slovenian registration centres, waiting to continue their journey to Austria.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker called an extraordinary meeting of several European leaders to tackle the migration crisis. The mini-summit is to be held on Sunday with the aim of agreeing to “common operational conclusions which could be immediately implemented”. Mr Juncker invited the heads of state or governments of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. Crowds of asylum seekers and other migrants have been camping by roads in western Balkan countries in worsening autumn weather after Hungary sealed its borders with Serbia and Croatia, causing a chain reaction in other overwhelmed states.
Attacks by ISIS have jumped by more than 40 percent per day in the third quarter compared to the previous three months, IHS Janes Terrorism and Insurgency Center said in a study released on Thursday. According to it from July through the end of September 2015, ISIS claimed a total of 1,086 attacks worldwide, with a 42 percent increase in the average daily number of attacks by the group. The report highlights ISIS activity across the area that includes Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the North Caucasus and Algeria.
