Employees from a Ukrainian arms firm conspired with defense ministry officials to embezzle almost $40 million earmarked to buy 100,000 mortar shells for the war with Russia, Ukraine’s security service reported.  Yet, the current investigation dates back to August 2022, and “anti-corruption activists do say that things have improved in terms of defence procurement”, said FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Kyiv-Ukraine, Gulliver Cragg. 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday his government will propose legislation to liberalise a near-total abortion ban and ease restrictions on the morning-after pill, which would dramatically reverse the previous administration’s policies.

A group of French farmers protested near the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.

EU agriculture ministers will discuss on Tuesday how to resolve European farmers’ growing discontent as Brussels scrambles to address the issue ahead of elections this year. Europe’s farmers are in revolt. The fury has led to road blockages and tractor parades in the past few weeks, with farmers taking their protests to the street in France, Germany, Poland and Romania, after the Netherlands earlier.

The Italian was remanded in custody ahead of sentence at Inner London crown court on January 31.

For Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, 2024 has started with renewed bombardment by Russian missiles. But inhabitants, loathe to leave again, are adapting to life with such dangers. A key question is education, which has been almost exclusively online for the past two years. Many school buildings have been destroyed and all are considered unsafe. So the city, and its region, are taking education underground – quite literally. Gulliver Cragg reports.