NEWS.am digest: Zelenskyy calls on NATO to help him, Macron invites Pashinyan to Paris

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 04.03.22

• Russian forces seized Europe's biggest nuclear power plant on Friday during fighting in southeastern Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia. At night a fire broke out in the nuclear plant’s training building, which was extinguished hours later. No dead or injured have been reported. The fire has not affected any essential equipment of the plant. No change in the radiation levels have been reported either.

In the morning Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that the Russian troops were shelling the plant.

The Ukrainian president called his US counterpart Joe Biden after the fire broke out. Russia in its turn stated that the fire was a provocation by the Ukrainian nationalists.

• The second round of Russian-Ukrainian talks were held yesterday in Belarus.

Russia and Ukraine agreed on organizing humanitarian corridors to help civilians escape the military operations.A temporary halt to fighting in select locations is also possible. After the talks, the Russian side said "substantial progress" had been made while the Ukrainian side said the results were far from what Kyiv had hoped for. The parties will continue negotiations in a third round in the near future.

• The Ukrainian president once again appealed to NATO and called on Western allies to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukrainian territory.

However, speaking ahead of a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Lithuania said the alliance would be dragged into war if it imposed a no-fly zone.

NATO will not take part in the war in Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz also noted.

Meanwhile, the alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said,” NATO is not part of the conflict. NATO is a defensive Alliance”.

Zelenskyy today stated that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is providing significant support to Ukraine and is one of the few guarantors of Ukraine’s security.

• French President Emmanuel Macron sent a congratulatory message to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the 30th anniversary of establishment of Armenian-French diplomatic relations and invited him to Paris.

“Thanks to centuries of close friendship between the French and Armenian peoples, over the past three decades the two countries have built a strong, diverse, forward-looking partnership,” Macron said.

• The dollar exchange rate is rising in Armenia.

The American dollar’s (USD) exchange rate against the Armenian dram (AMD) comprised AMD 503.08/$1 in Armenia on Friday; this is up by AMD 6.60 from Thursday.

The exchange rate for one euro was AMD 553.49 (up by AMD 3.09).

• The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved Thursday a EUR 26.5 million loan for Armenia.

The project is the fourth in a series of public sector modernization projects in Armenia and will assist the Government in improving the efficiency of, and access to, selected government services for businesses and citizens.

Accessing many public services in Armenia still requires the physical presence of citizens. This is most apparent in rural areas. Challenges also exist for citizens to access already existing digital services. A World Bank ICT survey found that only five percent of Armenian citizens and businesses currently use online government services.