North Macedonia's government

North Macedonia's government "has decided to donate helicopters to Ukraine" and has accepted a draft text intended for this purpose, the government in Skopje said in a press release.

The government did not specify how many gunships will be donated, but earlier this week, Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska said it might hand over its entire fleet of 12 helicopters.

North Macedonia's government has ordered heightened security on February 4, when the country celebrates 151 years since the birth of its biggest hero, the Ottoman-era revolutionary Goce Delcev.

Cooperation Conflicts

The West Balkan countries' flags at a Western Balkan Conference in the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, April 29, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/MIKA SCHMIDT / POOL

After mostly condemning Russia's all-out attack on Ukraine, Balkan governments on Thursday said they are working on evacuating their remaining citizens from the embattled country, assessing the security situation and even boosting reserves of food and fuel.

Bilall Kasami, leader of ethnic Albanian party Besa (Pledge of Honour), told BIRN in an interview the day after he was confirmed as the mayor of Tetovo that North Macedonia should avoid new snap elections after his coalition government partner Social Democratic Prime Minister Zoran Zaev resigned following his party's poor performance in the weekend's municipal polls.

At Thursday's emergency session, after Wednesday's hospital inferno in the town of Tetovo, North Macedonia's government decided to accept help offered by its NATO allies in investigating the cause of the fire that claimed the lives of 14 COVID patients.

Newly envisaged penalties for assaulting a journalist or a media worker adopted by North Macedonia's government on Tuesday will be from three months to three years in jail, the same as for assaulting a police officer, the Justice Ministry said.

After North Macedonia's government was savaged over the reported disapearance of the notorious ex-secret police chief Saso Mijalkov - days ahead of the verdict in his latest trial - Mijalkov's casual reappearance on Tuesday has added insult to injury.

North Macedonia has registered a new record number of daily coronavirus infections for the third consecutive day, with more than half the country's 2.1 million people under an 80-hour near-total lockdown.

Authorities in North Macedonia are considering reintroducing movement restrictions in parts of the country after registering the highest number of new COVID-19 infections in a day since the first case in late February.