Europe Today: Rare Oleshky truce holds in Ukraine, Albania imposes heavy fines on protesters

Name: Europe Today: Rare Oleshky truce holds in Ukraine, Albania imposes heavy fines on protesters
Uploaded: 2026-10-30T08:04:48+00:00
Duration: 19 min 40 s
Channel: euronews (in English)

00:14good morning it's finally Friday October 30th you're watching your news and this is Europe

00:21today our top stories a Russian drone killed at least 14 people at the main railway station in

00:28the Ukrainian city of Dnipro hitting a platform crowded with people boarding a train officials

00:34said the commuter train was preparing to depart for the nearby southern city of Saporizhia meanwhile

00:40a rare humanitarian ceasefire brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump in Oleschke seems to be holding

00:46the ceasefire is supposed to save people trapped in this Russian occupied Ukrainian town and to stay

00:53in place until Sunday a delegation of European lawmakers has warned China that its expert

00:59driven economic model is unsustainable for Europe the group demanded curbs on cheap imports across

01:05more industrial sectors the warning came during a visit to China by 12 MEPs who urged Beijing to

01:12build on a deal reached earlier this month to limit Chinese hybrid car exports to the EU the US trade

01:18deficit with China has reached a record 360 billion euros and continues to widen as low-cost Chinese

01:25imports flood the European market and Christine Lagarde will leave her post as president of the

01:32European Central Bank in February around nine months before her eight-year term was due to end while the

01:39ECB gave no reason speculation about Lagarde's early departure had been building for months rumor had it that

01:46Lagarde planned to leave early so that French president Macron and German Chancellor Mertz could oversee the

01:51choice of her successor before France's presidential election in April of next year welcome to the

01:58program I'm Stefan Grobe humanitarian aid is expected to reach the Russian occupied Ukrainian town of

02:05Oleschke today as a rare localized ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev enters its fourth day the truce which began on

02:14Tuesday has allowed military units to clear landmines ahead of the humanitarian operation but concerns

02:20remain over the fate of civilians trapped in the devastated town and whether those evacuated will

02:27be allowed to reach Ukrainian controlled territory for more on this our correspondent Sasha Vakulina is

02:32joining me now in the studio good morning Sasha so what do we know about this humanitarian operation expected

02:40to begin today and what about the evacuation of civilians it is the first operation like that

02:46in years Stefan now first let's look at Oleschke Oleschke is a small town in southern Ukraine it's

02:52across the river from Kherson city so when Kherson was liberated by Ukrainian forces Oleschke remained

02:58occupied and all the territory around it is heavily mined and this location is something that makes it very

03:04very complicated uh people in Oleschke there are about two thousand of residents who stay there they

03:11don't have access to food they don't have access to medical health no health uh services there's nothing

03:16there Oleschke was also severely flooded when the Russians blew the Kohovka dam in Kherson region now

03:21now they have just a few hours to decide whether they want to leave and given that they might have

03:27to go

03:27through harsh interrogations and filtration camps to reach first Russia occupied territory before they can go

03:34back to Ukraine controlled territory they have to make this decision before two o'clock in the afternoon

03:39local time if not if they stay starting from 2 30 they will receive humanitarian aid but then it is

03:47not

03:47clear how it will be controlled how it will be observed and also after today when will be the next

03:52the

03:53humanitarian aid delivered if there will be any now i discussed this operation with Ukraine's former

03:58prime minister arsene is very skeptical about what's happening in Oleschke today

04:04they actually took all these civilians as the hostages and now they are trading these hostages

04:14they launched a stage operation that those who hold them in captivity

04:20going to provide them some kind of survival so they brought to this special operation the first

04:28lady of the united states which is melania trump and the good news is that at least they've announced

04:33a partial ceasefire but the bad news is that once again that they are using these human beings as a

04:41shield as a hostages as those who would be depicted by the russian propaganda that have been saved by the

04:52egregious russian military and in this way they try actually to buy some kind of positive attitude from the

04:58white house that's my take do you trust the fact that the russian army will allow ukrainians who are

05:05trapped in oleschke to not only to evacuate but finally also to evacuate to the territory under ukrainian

05:12control and not to be forcefully deported into russia there is no way to trust russians period and they

05:21will conduct it as a special propaganda operation it depends on the white house whether the white house

05:27would be really ready to provide a humanitarian support for the ukrainians and to give the ukrainians

05:35chance to decide whether they want to go back to ukraine there is no information so far about

05:42any sort of official u.s mission slash u.s observers on the ground in oleschke well there is newsmax

05:52foxnews will participate in covering this uh operation so uh uh let me deliver a very clear message to the

06:01journalist of newsmax and fox news we kindly ask you folks to be journalists and to tell the truth

06:07but not to parrot the russian propaganda this operation the planned operation in oleschke uh

06:14overstretched but still could that be the first step towards any possible ceasefire that is now back on

06:21diplomatic table my answer would be very short no russia will not agree to the ceasefire no way and that's

06:29an issue look what russians are telling they've told that they are ready to resume so-called technical

06:36talks what the hell is technical talks putin is ready to end the war on his terms he is ready

06:46to get the peace

06:48deal which is similar to capitulation everything he is doing right now is a real way how to buy the

07:01time

07:02how to pretend that they want to cut the peace deal how to bypass sanctions circumvent sanctions

07:10uh uh how to drive the verge between americans and europeans and actually how to outweigh us this is

07:18the plan of putin where europe is it at the table or on the menu we need to have europe

07:25at the table and

07:28it's up to americans let me once again reiterate americans to have their closest ally which is the european

07:37union sitting at the table who shall represent the european union should it be antonio costa should it

07:43be kaya callas who shall be that voice you remember this notorious phrase of former secretary of state

07:51whom should i call in europe well it's up to the european union to decide it could be the president

07:59of

07:59philand it could be uh the president of the european commission we're gonna hit the wall because russians

08:05object this who cares but russians object to anybody correct correct

08:14sasha vakulina speaking to former ukrainian prime minister asseny yatsenyuk

08:20albania introduced heavy fines for people present at demonstrations that turn violent as the government

08:26seeks to manage daily protests demanding the resignation of prime minister edi rama

08:31in the capital tirana the fines can go as high as 5 500 euros quite a number in a country

08:39where

08:39the average pre-tax monthly salary stands at 930 euros the pecuniary penalties are not limited to

08:46people directly engaged in violence they will be imposed on anyone who chooses to remain in a crowd

08:52that is carrying out acts of violence or looting is this government overreach or legitimate punishment

09:00for destroying property joining me now in tirana is our correspondent ardit hoksha good morning ardit

09:07good morning so these fines what was the public reaction to them so it was expected that the public

09:16reaction would be a little bit high on the street but what we have seen in these two days especially

09:22yesterday when the fines were approved by the parliament was a little bit low and i said this

09:30because uh in the in the square we saw yesterday only few people uh protesting so uh after the the

09:38the

09:39government uh made the decision it was approved yesterday in the parliament and the the people that

09:45uh protested since uh even in the in front of the parliament but also in front of the uh prime

09:52minister's office were only like 200 or 300 of them so uh the expectations now are for the saturday

10:01when it's uh called like a national protest and a huge protest like it was in the previous uh saturday

10:09and we will see if the reaction this time will be like uh uh huge and uh and and will

10:17cause even more

10:18damages or uh it the the the fines will make the the the effect and the people will will fear

10:25from

10:25them and will not go in the squares or cause any problems or damages like we have seen in the

10:31previous

10:32weeks and could these massive fines actually backfire provoking even more anger and bigger

10:38demonstrations yeah this is a fear and uh and uh one of the expectations to to all people here

10:47that uh this kind of fines but also the the other uh decisions that the government has uh notified

10:54that all people who uh provoke violence and uh uh made uh this kind of violence in the streets they

11:04can hold also have the ban to entry in the eu countries so uh together with the fines uh these

11:10are uh very repressive repressive measures by the government against the protesters that may

11:17also the backfire arid hokshay in tirana thank you very much israel has voted but the political deadlock

11:27continues benjamin netanyahu is fighting for survival his opponents are struggling to form an alternative

11:33government and arab parties have emerged as potential king meters after historic electoral gains but

11:40will any of this make a difference for palestinians in gaza and the west bank or is israel's political

11:46establishment fundamentally united in rejecting their aspirations for statehood let's bring in dr

11:53mustafa barghouti member of the palestinian legislative council good morning and thank you for joining us

12:00good morning to you so dr barghouti benjamin netanyahu has lost his parliamentary majority but he's far from

12:07politically finished from a palestinian perspective is this election a victory a disappointment or simply

12:14more of the same no unfortunately it's a combination first of all the fact that netanyahu's bloc has lost is

12:24important uh second the unfortunate thing is that all zionist parties in israel whether in government

12:33with netanyahu or in opposition to netanyahu all share the same views of rejecting palestinian rights

12:40including rejecting a palestinian state rejecting the right of the palestinians to have self-determination

12:48rejecting the idea of ending the israeli illegal occupation and most importantly all these parties

12:55support the continuation of illegal settlement activities which are destroying any potential for

13:01peace that is the problem and they all are supportive of continuing the genocidal war on gaza

13:08on the other hand none of these two blocks can form a government without the third factor in these

13:14elections which is a very big rise of the number of seats that palestinian arabs in israel hold 19 seats

13:21they are the decision maker in this case and i hope this will have an impact on removing at least

13:29the most fascist ministers in the israeli government like motrich and bingwir who have been responsible for

13:36terrible attacks including ethnic cleansing in the west bank let me follow up on this uh gadi eisenkot

13:42could replace netanyahu but but he's a former israeli military chief would a government led by eisenkot

13:48really be any better for palestinians it would be better if they remove these fascist ministers like

13:55smotrich and bingwir and if they have the sufficient courage to rely on the votes of the arab members of

14:04the knesset who are ready to provide this support so that a change can make and end this whole era

14:10of

14:10netanyahu's administration netanyahu has been responsible not only for slaughtering palestinians

14:17in gaza and for enhancing ethnic cleansing in the west bank but he has been responsible for creating

14:23wars with lebanon with syria threatening jordan and trying to impose israel as an imperial force

14:31controlling the middle east removing netanyahu is the most important thing today so if eisenkot

14:37have the courage he can do it um on that note arab parties have made historic electoral gains and

14:45and could now hold the balance of power isn't that an extraordinary opportunity for palestinians to

14:50influence israeli politics yes and it shows you that the palestinians who many of whom have been

14:57passive and worried and afraid because of oppression they are subjected to and because

15:03of the terrible racism in israel where they speak about israel as a jewish only state ignoring the

15:10rights of the 20 of the population and now they are not passive they are active now they believe in

15:16themselves they believe that they have strength and they have the power to demand their rights and

15:21that's an important addition to the overall palestinian struggle whether in the occupied palestinian

15:26territories or among palestinian refugees in the diaspora or now inside israel i think this is a

15:32very positive factor and it shows that the palestinian community inside israel will defend its rights and

15:38defend itself and democratic means of course but the most horrible things is when you see israeli

15:46parties whether in governments or in opposition using racist terms like the votes of the arab should not

15:53count and they should not have a right to to have a power inside the knesset that is absolute racism

15:59and it brings back the main question how could israel claim to be a democracy when it is practicing

16:05apartheid against another nation and how can israel be a jewish only state when 20 of its population are

16:14palestinian arabs let me ask you about the two-state solution is it politically dead in israel regardless of

16:20who becomes prime minister the only way to save palestinian statehood and what what they call

16:27two-state solution is to remove illegal israeli settlements from the west bank which are now more

16:33than 560. netanyahu has made every possible effort and his government to create as many settlements to

16:40kill the idea of a palestinian state in my opinion maybe they have already killed the idea of two-state

16:47solution because of the lack of response from international community which should have imposed

16:52sanctions on israel to stop this terrible attack on the possibility of peace and justice but if a

16:59two-state solution is killed what is the solution for these extreme israeli parties who reject two-state

17:06solution and reject one democratic state solution the only solution for them is ethnic cleansing of

17:12palestinians but we are not leaving we are here we're going to stay we will resist and try to stay

17:17in every possible way and that's why in my opinion the only alternative that is really possible and

17:24that is really brings the minimum of justice is one democratic state where everybody has equal rights

17:30and equal duties all right mustafa baguti member of the palestinian legislative council thank you for

17:36sharing your thoughts with us this morning and now i want to go back to uh sasha you're not only

17:42our

17:42ukraine correspondent also our israel specialist you you've heard baguti and and his remarks what's

17:48what's your first impression well stefan it is no doubt that our reporters did emerge to as kingmakers

17:54with 19 seats this is very very significant but i think you know it's we've got to be careful uh

18:00regarding

18:00the netanyahu result because 53 says this is still the largest result for his blog this is still very

18:07significant yes it is short of the 61 seats of majority but it is the largest and the most successful

18:12and the highest result uh emerging after the elections now when it comes to um gadi eisinger we're talking

18:19about 48 seats this is such a deadlock for israeli politics when we discussed the elections uh this week

18:27we said that you know we are going to see a couple of weeks between two weeks to two months

18:32more or less

18:32of the negotiations about how to form the new government for it i think we are now looking at

18:37a month or two months because this deadlock it's also about not only whether netanyahu or gadi eisenkot

18:43are willing to speak to the aero parties but also from we now heard from mustafa baguti whether the

18:48aero parties are ready to speak to any of them and which conditions would be there to join the forces

18:53like

18:53we've heard now from uh mustafa aguri that it's about uh ministers like smotrich and bangweer not

18:58to participate would that be enough though would that be the only condition they're going to put

19:03out to netanyahu to join forces so we're talking about three parties and the three sides that are not

19:09really willing to communicate and work together as of now and the other option is still on the table

19:14another election and another vote do you feel this is coming we'll see okay sasha thank you so much for

19:22that comment and that does it for us today thank you for watching i'm stefan grover take care and

19:28i see you on monday

Europe Today: Rare Oleshky truce holds in Ukraine, Albania imposes heavy fines on protesters

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