Black Sea storm batters Ukraine, Russia – DW – 11/27/2023

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday promised that foreign ministers from NATO member states would reaffirm their long-term support for Ukraine this week in that nation’s fight against neighboring Russia, which invaded it in February 2022.

Speaking with reporters Monday, Stoltenberg also said Turkey should finally approve Sweden’s membership in the military alliance. “Sweden has delivered on what they promised and now the time has come for Turkiye to finalize the accession process.”

Sweden and neighboring Finland both reversed decades of military non-alignment policy by seeking NATO membership in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey has used it’s power to veto the Sweden vote as leverage to gain various concessions from NATO member states, claiming Sweden is soft on Kurdish immigrants whom Ankara says are terrorists. 

NATO membership must be unanimously approved by all 31 alliance nations. Turkey has single-handedly blocked Sweden’s membership bid since May 2022, when Sweden first submitted its application with Finland — which gained membership this April.

A massive winter storm on the Black Sea has killed at least three people, caused the evacuation of hundreds more, and left millions in Ukraine and Russia without power or heat.  

States of emergency have been declared across Russian-controlled Crimea, where an estimated 1.9 million people are currently without power due to storms that have raged since Friday.

Waves battering the coast also continue to disrupt shipping.

Roads in the region have been flooded, trees uprooted and power plants knocked out of service due to heavy snow.

Blizzards brought on by the storm caused power outages in Romania and Bulgaria on Sunday.

Russian meteorologists say it is the most severe storm to hit Crimea since record keeping began, claiming the only storm that came close to this magnitude hit in 1854 — when 30 some ships were sunk during the Crimean War.

The storm is also believed to have left people dead in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.  

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said more than 2,000 Ukrainian towns are currently without power.

Weather forecasters say the storm will increase in intensity before it passes, telling residents to expect stronger winds and heavier snowfall.