Chisinau

This was the second and biggest wave of deportations out of the three that the Soviet Union enacted in Moldova. Between 1941 and 1951 there were three waves of deportations, and historians estimate that the total number of deportees was between 80,000 and 120,000.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Sofia a few minutes ago.

He arrived in Bulgaria on a government plane with a flight from Chisinau.

Rustam Ashurov, 43, a Tajik criminal wanted in his home country for kidnapping a banker, died on Monday night in a hospital in the Moldovan capital after being seriously wounded by special forces officers at Chisinau International Airport while trying to enter the country.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday evening he was very concerned over escalations in Kosovo-Metohija and Ukraine and pressure on Serbia that would result from that.

"The situation is getting complicated, I'm very worried, just please, remove these fake mayors, and we are ready for a compromise. We need to talk, but I'm begging you for someone to take action. The formation of the CSM must be started," Vui said being hosted at irilica show on TV Happy.

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Monday that it has imposed sanctions on seven people with ties to the Russian intelligence services for their involvement in attempts to destabilise democracy and influence elections in Moldova, Ukraine and the Balkan countries.

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija Milovan Drecun said on Friday Serbs in the north of the province were determined to end Pristina's terror and would continue to protest until the present situation was resolved.

He said leading Western states had stepped up diplomatic activities to de-escalate the crisis and resume dialogue.

CHISINAU - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday evening he had had a difficult discussion with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about an escalation of violence in Kosovo-Metohija.

They met during a European Political Community summit in Chisinau.

Kosovo's President, Vjosa Osmani, and its Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, confirmed that they are open for new mayoral elections in four Serb-dominated municipalities in the north of the country, in line with a request from Western officials.

The document "De-escalation in four northern municipalities - a step by step scenario" was published immediately after French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, requested the urgent holding of new elections in four municipalities in the north of Kosovo.