Baltic Summit | World News Tonight

[Music] good evening ladies and gentlemen this is TVP world you're watching World News Tonight I'm your host Benjamin Lee tonight we'll explore polish prime minister Donald tusk's Str IC pack with Sweden after key Nordic Baltic talks but before that let's take a look at tonight's headlines Biden unlikely to deliver full Ukraine Aid before his term ends Georgia's EU hopes stalled after election Fallout Ukrainian troops train on NATO tanks in Poland h prime minister Donald Tusk has concluded a whirlwind 48 hours in Sweden meeting Nordic and Baltic leaders today he signed a new strategic agreement with

his Swedish counterpart ol christon our chief political correspondent Aaron Diamond caught him on boat ride behind me it's row row row your boat for prime minister Donald TSI side by side with his Swedish counterpart on the same day they firm up ties between the two countries there signing a new strategic partnership updated from 2011 here's what they told us about the fresh deal today we meet with the full unquestionable conviction that when it comes to security when it comes to the economic independence of Europe to True European sovereignty that will allow us to decide our

own fate we speak exactly the same language for the first time I'm seeing such strength and solidarity of a block of countries that speak and think in the same way on the most difficult issues and such as undoubtedly the Russian in Ukraine with the signing of this renewed strategic partnership the ties between Sweden and Poland are stronger than they have ever been in Modern Times Europe now needs clear and decisive action to address all the challenges we have in our time we must enhance our competitiveness mitigate irregular migration strengthen military capabilities and defense Industries support

Ukraine obviously and counter the growing aggression from Russia Today I can also tell you that in addition to that uh Sweden has also sent a formal request to China um to cooperate with Swedish authorities in order to create Clarity on what has happened that former request was sent to China earlier today of course Sweden only became a full member of NATO earlier this year a move Poland supported and Regional stability and security has been at the Forefront here in harpon prime minister Donald Tusk says the last two days have been pivotal as Poland gets ready

to ascend to the EU presidency in Hopson for TVP world I'm Aaron Dam Russian missile and drone attacks across Ukraine have left at least five people dead and 25 others injured local authorities have described it as a massive overnight assault targeting the country's energy infrastructure in the early hours of Thursday morning joining us live from keev with the latest is our Ukraine correspondent Oz cater G good evening Oz what more can you tell us about this attack well president seninsky addressed the people earlier describing uh the attack saying that Ukraine had been assaulted by 90

uh missile s and 997 attack drones now of that Ukrainian Air Force say 57 were kh1 cruise missiles and 28 of them were caliber cruise missiles of which they managed to shoot down 79 of them and 70 drones were downed by either electronic warfare measures or air defenses so again a really really busy day for the Ukrainian air defenses uh the energy Minister spoke out this morning morning calling it a massive attack on Ukraine's energy grids and rolling blackouts have been reported throughout the country as Ukraine tries to prepare itself for what could be a

sustained campaign of Russia targeting its energy infrastructure as it has done for the past two years as it as the bitter cold winter month approach right the situation does seem dire over there and you please do stay safe meanwhile appreciate the update thank you so much and as Ukraine faces its most intense aerial attack since the War Began The Wall Street Journal reports that the administration of US President Joe Biden may be unable to deliver all pledged military aid before Donald Trump's inauguration while the president-elect strategy for resolving the conflict remains unclear he has appointed

a special Envoy to oversee peace efforts between Ukraine and Russia yiho reports such scenes are a daily bread for Citizens across Ukraine Sheltering from incoming Russian attacks our mornings begin with checking the phone to see if there is an air alert I have to take the eldest daughter to school we saw that there was an air alert and went to the Metro we are indeed fed up with all of it in the last weeks Ukraine has been experiencing the biggest drone and missile attacks of the wall aimed at its energy infrastructure attacks on energy facilities

are taking place all over Ukraine the operator of the transmission system of NEC uko urgently introduced an emergency power cut as soon as the security situation allows the consequences will be clarified Moscow says the attacks are a response to the usage of us made weapons against Targets in Russia and vows there will be more at present the ministry of defense and the general staff of the Russian army are selecting targets to hit on Ukrainian territory these could be military facilities defense industry Enterprises or decision making centers in Kiev the war so far has shown that

Western Aid is crucial in fending of Russian attacks but with just months remaining in office the Joe Biden Administration is supposedly facing logistical challenges in providing Ukraine with all the military aid authorized by Congress before some of the authority in this regard will be transferred to Donald Trump's team as of today the Biden Administration has still over $6.5 billion worth of equipment to be transferred to Ukraine and while the United States uh followed by our allies some allies you know provide Ukraine uh with a permission to hit uh inside Russia that is actually really not

enough because we also need to send uh more long range missiles Trump meanwhile nominated kith Kellogg a retired lieutenant general and former National Security adviser a special Envoy to Ukraine and Russia Kellog who played a key role in Trump's first team is expected to spearhead efforts to negotiate an end to the ongoing war in Ukraine General Keith Kellogg has been around for decades he's reti retired three star Army General this is not a controversial nomination in fact this nomination along with a few others in the National Security space gives me guarded optimism that the Trump

team is going to thread the needle on a very complex set of foreign policy issues Trump who pledged to end the war the first day back in office has noted reveal the specifics of his strategy while some fears are mounting one thing is certain in January the world may expect some shift thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are undergoing training in various NATO countries including Poland TVP world has given access to polish base where tank crews are learning to operate and maintain leopard to main battle tanks Chris panck bring us the report after more than a thousand

days of War Ukrainian armed forces are shed on vehicles weapons ammunition and experienced instructors polish Army operating under the European Union's combined arms training command undertook some of the training duties in this training base we can prepare soldiers who never operated tanks starting with the basics of the tanks structure and operation through training the entire crew in combat operations to cooperation at the platoon level the training program utilizes Advanced Simulator lers before soldiers move onto actual tanks the commander Gunner and loader are trained together with drivers undergoing a separate course to ensure the safety of

the soldiers families we are asked not to show their faces the first stage of the training is theoretical then we move on to simulators finally we move on to the tank itself and firing practice using the 120 mm Main gun and the 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun alongside the tank Cru maintenance and repair Personnel undergo their own training we can for example change the cylinder head repair the transmission we can diagnose what is wrong with the engine and decide if we can fix the problem ourselves or if we need to send the engine back to

the manufacturer for repair over 100 LEP two tanks were given to Ukraine by various NATO countries leading to the need for a significant number of trained Crews these tanks were designed with ease of repair in mind reducing the workload in comparison to Soviet tanks which ukrainians are used to operating the Tank's entire engine can be completely replaced in the field in under 30 minutes the war in Ukraine is seeing the rapid development of new weapons systems and tactics in order to keep up with the changes in The Art of War the training program is being

continuously modified every time we begin a new training tour we use the experience of previous tours these experiences are passed To Us by Ukrainian commanders who come here with the soldiers our mission command then analyzes it and introduces it into the training program conducted in our base the last and key part of the training process is life fire exercise and in addition to the tank Crews other courses are organized for mechanized infantry combat engineers Medics and staff officers the EU aims to train some 60,000 Ukrainian Soldiers by the end of the year with additional courses

taking place in the US and the UK as Poland prepares to take on the presidency of the Council of the European Union it is prioritizing enhanced cyber security across the block key in initiatives include the creation of a European cyber Security fund and a European cyber Shield aiming to Foster closer cooperation among member states to strengthen resilience against cyber attacks our reporter aidu Nia attended Poland's internet governance Forum in Warsaw and brings us the latest developments Poland says that Europe is at high risk of cyber attacks and hybrid attacks and that's why warsa wants to

allocate more money on defense not just on traditional defense like tanks and airplanes but also on cyber security it was announced here at the igf the internet governance Forum in Warsaw by the deputy prime minister of Poland and the minister for digital Affairs kristofh gafovi that during its upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union Poland will do everything to create a European cyber Security fund and a European cyber Shield I asked the Prime Minister what exactly he means by these two terms and here is his response security and cyber space should be the

shared responsibil of all EU member States during its upcoming presidency of the Council of the European Union Poland will definitely propose establishing a joint EU fund that will first and foremost guarantee that we have the necessary means to spend we're also aware that we need a common cyberspace Shield that will help us protect the block from the rising number of attacks coming from Russia among other declarations made here by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister is that Poland wants to be a leader in digitalization and that it will invest in break Technologies such as artificial intelligence

and quantum computers I am at igf Poland this is a Polish edition of a un initiative the internet governance Forum which is a platform for discussion it brings together um people from the private sector public sector also civil society and uh Academia experts in all things digital to discuss future legislation in order to make internet a more ex more inclusive a safer and better space for everyone Georgia's aspirations for EU membership have been delayed by Ali four more years the Georgian prime minister announced the decision after Brussels strongly criticized the country's October general elections Pavo

chosi reports the announcement by Georgian prime minister Iraqi kobak Kiza to suspend EU accession talks until 2028 came on Thursday today we decided to put the issue of opening negotiations with the EU on the agenda until the end of 2028 we also refuse any budgetary grants from the EU until the end of 2028 the Georgian prime minister has also announced that to he will be waving EU budget grants until the accession talks resume also on Thursday the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Georgia's worsening Democratic crisis and called for new elections the oral Amendment cannot

be taken and this resolution follows the eu's decision made earlier this year to suspend Georgia's accession process due to tii introducing the foreign agents Bill modeled after a similar Russian law also the EU blocked funds worth tens of millions of Euros for Georgia due to the country's Democratic backsliding both of Thursday's announcements come in the middle of political turmoil in the country as thousands take to the streets to Pro as the new Georgian Dream Parliament which took the power after elections marked with irregularities the new Parliament was also condemned by the Georgian President we should

all feel a profound sense of Sorrow as the Georgian Parliament has ceased to exist the parliament along with the ruling team a single party has trampled on the Constitution I feel sorry for them but zurab Bish's presidential term ends at the end of this year and the new Georgian president will no longer be elected by a public vote instead according to changes made to the Georgian constitution in 2017 the president will be chosen by the electoral college and the ruling Georgian Dream has already presented its candidate former footballer mik cavales I am confident that Mikel

kavash will fully restore the dignity temporarily taken away from the presidential institution the 300 person Electoral College consists of all Georgian MPS representatives from autonomous republics of abazia and adjara and electors representing self-governing bodies such a composition makes the Georgian Dream candidate PO for victory and the party bound to strengthen its grip on the country the newly elected president will take office on December 29th Romania is bracing for significant political developments in the coming days as voters head to the polls for parliamentary elections and the second round of presidential voting the presidential race has already

been seen as major upset with a far-right candidate unexpectedly securing first place allegations of election fraud have prompted Romania's Top Court to order a recount frak pis has the details Kalen Jesu an independent candidate who was projected to win just 5% of the vote in the recent first round of the presidential elections shocked the world after surpassing his expected score by almost five times once you are under 10 and at least four or five of your uh opponents are Beyond 10% it's not reasonable from an analytical perspective to place that person as having an actual

chance to enter the second round first no to mention to actually lead the first round Jesu who was expelled from the alliance for the unity of Romanians for being too radical owes his campaign success to a social media app Tik Tok seemingly captivating an audience of mostly young voters inside and outside of Romania his unexpected victory in the first round of the election sparked protests among Romanian voters as Russian media Outlets welcomed his success we're here today because unexpectedly this one of the people who was the first person who was elected to go into the

next rounds of presidential elections is kin Jesu an extremist a farri extremist who is a pro- Russian wants to take Romania away from the NATO course Christian Tes a national Conservative Party candidate called for a recount of the vote following what he described as irregularities a call echoed by the Romanian constitutional Court prominent representatives of the USR while President IAL elections were still taking place in various parts of the world in this case in the United States and Canada went public and although the law prohibit it after 7:00 on the Saturday before the elections they

went public with multiple press releases internet posts live broadcast according to a report published by Politico the CEO of Tik Tok was also summoned to the European Parliament to answer questions about the social media platform's role in the election results Tik Tok has dismissed the concerns and says most candidates campaigned on its platform as well as on other social media sites presidential candidate ballots aren't the only ones that will be cast in the coming days on December 1st millions of Romanians will cast their votes for the country's future in the next parliamentary elections according to

the latest polls the Social Democratic party can expect to win over 30% of votes the right-wing populist Alliance for the unity of Romanians party and the national Liberal Party can both expect around 177% and the center right save Romania Union is projected Ed to win around 13% of support however given the volatility of the first round of the presidential election polls might not be as reliable a source as expected now join us as we explore an inspiring initiative by Elementary School students the Warsaw Uprising escape room reporter Aisha abajo introduces us to The Passion of

volunteers who have found a unique way to teach history by bringing it to life we are here today in a beautiful Elementary School in Warsaw and I find myself in an escape room organized by students and their teacher well our school is called Elementary School 279 in the name of Battalion Gustaf yanes this es came room was made for uh to give off information and teach about the children more about the worse apprising in more of a fun way young people are interested in these lessons because it is a way of learning and testing their

knowledge as well as widening the circle of curious and conscious young polls this year we have adapted the escape room for grades 1 through three which means that everyone can participate and the tasks are prepared in such a way that the children can have fun and learn more about the history of our school and [Music] Poland they play the roles of insurgents and nurses in addition to the usual theoretical tasks they also have practical ones such as first [Music] aid yes this is my classroom where I have lessons physics polish and geography classes let's say

around 10 students helped throughout the whole weeks until 900 p.m. the whole day they were working to create this beautiful masterpiece [Music] the most enjoyable thing I did here was painting and I also helped in coming up with the [Music] puzzles it was a great pleasure the teachers also helped us a lot it wasn't easy but when I see children playing here it's a great pleasure for me and finally we bow down to the beautiful young ladies who made this initiative come true and their inspiring teacher Aisha reporting from TVP world see [Music] you security

and cooperation were at the Forefront of discussions during the Nordic Baltic Summit in harson key leaders including polish prime minister Donald Tusk proposed an Initiative for Baltic Sea security Cooperative Naval patrols dubbed Naval policing as Russia's aggression looms large and transatlantic bonds grow crucial the summit reinforced commitments to Ukraine and Regional energy security Now joining us today on TVP world to discuss these pivotal development is yakob helgren director of the Swedish Institute of international Affairs hello sir and welcome to TVP world thank you very much so can you help us understand what are some of

the main goals of this strategic partnership agreement between Poland and Sweden well uh I think that first of all it was great to have um prime minister Tusk in in Sweden in view of the upcoming EU presidency and also meeting with the Nordic Baltic 8 uh and th showcasing the importance of of the collaboration in the in the Baltic Sea uh and then between Sweden and and Poland as you said a strategic partnership was entered uh focusing mainly on defense and security but also on supporting Ukraine of course and also to a large degree trade

related issues right when it comes to this Naval Navy policing initiative it does sound pretty ambitious do you foresee any challenges roadblocks ahead well I think first of all this should be seen both in the light of the increasing level uh of and frequence of hybrid threats and hybrid attacks in the Baltic Sea such as the you know the cutting of of cables recently phone cables Etc so and and secondly it should therefore be seen as a parallel to the already since long existing air policing within NATO so I think what the reactions to this

has being that it's a very interesting proposal but that it of course has to be discussed thoroughly within the NATO context before kind of putting it into into action right and you mentioned the hybrid attack and the cyber attacks coming from a various directions or even sabotage H how are they being addressed most recently pertaining like the Chinese ship that has allegedly cut some the cables yeah I mean three times is like too too many last year another cable was cut also suspectedly at the time by a Chinese vessel this time around a Chinese vessel

as I'm sure you all know uh is respective of having cut not not one but two cuts during the same night last week uh with what seems to be quite suspected Behavior Uh and therefore it has not been apprehended but at least it's been asked to to stop and collaborate in the investigation as to whether they could have been participating in this in this event uh so that is still under investigation but according to what is known it's seems as if that vessel uh not only uh slowed its speed considerably during that night when it

happened but also went in circles essentially dragging its anchor on the bottom of the sea uh now that remains to be proved but it's considered suspicious behavior and enough to be thoroughly investigated right uh well during the meeting the Prime Minister Tusk stressed that if Europe is United well Russia is actually a technical financial and economic DWF of Europe however if Europe is divided Russia is a threat to each country individually how would you comment on this particular statement well I think that's very true if you just look at the sight of the of the

Russian economy it's it's like a dwarf it's I mean the European economy taken together is somewhere between 10 and well I think 20 or 25 times the the Russian economy as such so if the Europeans get together and really invest in constraining Russia that will not be a match now Europe has not done that properly so I think this is could be seen as a call to all Europeans to really stay United and to to join uh France against these existential threats that the the Russian Russian war of aggression uh poses you mentioned earlier that

of course a lot of details still needs to be ironed out within NATO uh how can the Nordic Baltic Nations maintain cohesion despite of perhaps differ priorities within NATO and the European Union well I wouldn't say that the Nordic Baltic countries have that differing priorities within NATO actually there's quite a high degree of cesan now with Finland and Sweden as new NATO members all members are allies all are sharing the same threat perception when it comes to to Russia and it's illegal war of aggression in Ukraine they share the assessment that supporting and safeguarding allowing

Ukraine to to Prevail in the war is also existential for wider Europe so I don't think I would agree with that there is a lot of difference of opinion now what I think is important is that the Nordic Baltic 8 uh the Nordic 5 and the Baltic 3 are in in collaborating closely with Poland and actually also with with with Germany uh uh because we have a new Northern flank to make sure is that it's well defended that Russia is deterred and that we we stay strong in the face of of the Russian uh Onslaught

he and going into the specifics of the Navy policing how is that going to influence the broader transatlantic security strategies well I think it's it's really important as I think also the Swedish prime minister said that this is of course thoroughly discussed and anchored within within NATO structur so that it is not perceived as some kind of regional uh initiative which doesn't take place within the framework of of NATO and then there are of course also other initiatives which is has to relate to such as the joint expeditionary Force which is a UK Le loose

collaboration which has been in existence for about 10 years so ironing out uh the differences between these initiatives and making sure that they are complementary and as I said before it makes a lot of sense to have some kind of a mirroring arrangement to the already since long existing air policing in the Baltic Sea airspace now now the details of that will of course have to happen you know within as as discussions within within the North Atlantic Council all right there's also discussions about uh investment when it comes to energy security for example Poland's offshore

Wind Farm has been a very big investment when it comes to achieving that how could similar strategy expanded across the region well I mean as you say that strategic partnership between Poland and and and Sweden did Encompass several I mean up to 10 or so different areas I mentioned only defense and and trade before and clean energy and green transition is certainly one of them there's also focus on nuclear collaboration fossil-free uh uh options to to promote the necessary green transition I ex I mean exactly how that will you mentioned the the the example of

wind wind farms how that will be expanded also considering uh security considerations I think will be stuff for further discussions and negotiations but that Investments also need to take place within that area is is clearly necessary all right last but not least do you think uh well are you optimistic about a EU approved Coalition of the Willing being able to strengthen the EU security policy yeah I I I think this is it's important of course to realize that we are right now in in quite an uncertain situation in the transition between uh the Biden Administration

and the Trump Administration there's a lot of of uh nervousness as to how the Americans will play this under the new Administration uh and it would be it would be I would lie if I didn't say that there are differences in views across the European Union of how to deal with this issue in terms of threat perception Etc and that's where this idea of coalitions of the Willing have come up now I do and there is a long history of coalitions of the Willing within NATO or outside NATO or among NATO countries Etc that could

work but as you say and as you allude to I think it's incredibly important that that happens in concert and in good consultation with other allies so that it is not perceived as something happening in parallel or outside NATO discussions but then exactly the format of this and how it will of course be stuff for further negotiation but but it's clear that the nordics the baltics Poland UK May Netherlands are countries that really take the Russian threat seriously and are willing to ship in to make sure that there the teror says high now so that

might be a reason for why coalitions of the Willing will happen among those countries but as I said it remains to be seen exactly how all right so we'll have to carefully observe how the situation developed but in the meantime thank you so much for your input and insight really appreciate it thanks for being with us thank you very much cheers and thank you for watching this edition of world news tonight before more news update and commentary please stay tuned to TVP world [Music]