Hungarian and Serbian Election Week

Two elections in the region will be held on 3 of April Serbia and Hungary with both races pointing towards the incumbents.

EU/regional:

• Serbian and Hungarian elections will be held on Sunday 3 April. Both elections seem to be favouring the incumbents staying.
• 3.86 million Refugees have fled Ukraine as of 27 March. 2.3 million to Poland, 587 thousand to Romania, 384 thousand to Moldova, 354 thousand to Hungary, 272 thousand to Slovakia according to the UNHCR.
• The Turkish Defence Minister confirmed that a mine found in the Bosphorus was cleared by the Turkish Navy’s Underwater Defence. Earlier Turkey closed the strait due to an alert of a mine-like object. As Russia had mined areas of the Black Sea near Ukraine and spread information through the government news agencies that these mines could reach the Bosphorus, the alert was taken into account.
• On 28 March there is an extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on the agenda is EU support for people fleeing the war in Ukraine, the implementation of material and financial support for member states, the monitoring and coordination of travel within the EU, the reception of refugees from the Republic of Moldova and external border control and security issues

Planned Talks While War Rages

Ukraine:

• Ukrainian and Russian delegations are to meet in Turkey for negotiations on March 29 and March 30.
• Russian troops near Kyiv are regrouping in Belarus and are trying to attack the routes to the capital from the north, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine informs.
• Slavutych, the satellite city near Chornobyl nuclear station, is occupied by Russian forces. At least two are dead, more civilians are injured as the military attacked the peaceful protest. The city mayor Yuri Fomichov was kidnapped on 26 March but soon released. Though the Russian army controls the streets, the city authorities do not cooperate. Slavutych has been under siege since 24 March.
• Russian forces keep dozens of tons of shells in Chornobyl, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine informed. Both the transport route for the weaponry from the Gomel region in Belarus, and the storage are dangerously close to the nuclear station. The Chernobyl nuclear station was captured on 24 February. Meanwhile, Ukraine works toward deposing Russians from the key positions in the IAAE.  
• Ukrainian civic society keeps questioning the activity of the International Committee of Red Cross, while Ukraine officially asked ICRC not to open the office in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, as that legitimises the abductions and forced deportations of Ukrainian citizens. The Red Cross was also criticised for leaving Mariupol, the city besieged since the fifth day of the war. 
• Mariupol still suffers under regular and violent bombardment. It is cut off from electricity, water, heating, and phone connections. 90 per cent of the housing is badly damaged by shelling. At least 300 civilians are dead after the missile attack in the 1300-persons shelter, most of the bodies are still under wreckage. The attempt to open humanitarian corridors failed on 28 March due to possible sabotage. 
• The Russian landing ship ‘Orsk’ was destroyed at Berdyansk’s occupied port. The fire spread to two other Russian vessels as well as to ammunition and fuel depots.
• Russian forces are regularly attacked by the Ukrainian military at Chornobaivka, the airfield near Kherson, used as a command post by Russian air forces. Even the most sceptical experts estimate at least four successful attacks (others count to 11 as of 27 March), dozens of Russian helicopters are destroyed, and several high-ranked Russian officers killed, including the commander of the 8th Army.
• Citizens of the occupied Kherson went to a protest rally on 27 March. Despite the Russian forces using gas grenades, people stayed on the streets. In the occupied Kakhovka, Kherson region, people also protested on Sunday.
• The infrastructure of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces Ukraine in Vinnytsia was damaged by the missile strike on 25 March.
• The Ukrainian army took back control of Trostyanets near Sumy, as well as of several other towns and villages in Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, and Kyiv regions. 
• Most of Chernihiv’s city infrastructure was destroyed, less than half of the population stayed, more than 200 were killed, the mayor informs.
• Oil depots in Lutsk, Dubno and Lviv were destroyed with Russian missiles on 26 and 27 March. The fires in Lviv and Lutsk have been extinguished overnight.

Final Week Before Elections

Hungary: