The European Union must support Ukraine “for as long as necessary”the future head of the European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas. “We have to keep working every day. Today, tomorrow and for as long as necessary and with as much military, financial and humanitarian aid as necessary.”she told MEPs in Brussels on Tuesday. The former Estonian prime minister was appointed in June by the 27 EU heads of state and government to replace Spain’s Josep Borrell as head of European diplomacy. She has yet to receive the backing of the European Parliament following her hearing on Tuesday, but there is little doubt that they will give her the green light. The 47-year-old former Estonian leader is due to take office in December. In addition to her duties as head of European diplomacy, she has also been appointed Vice-President of the European Commission, like her predecessor. Her term of office, like that of the rest of the Commission, is five years.

“It won’t be an easy five years”she admitted. “I see coalitions of autocrats forming around us and threatening geopolitical upheavals taking place around the world.”she warned MEPs. “We must be aware that there is a threat and respond appropriately with our closest allies and partners without ceding anything about our values.”she added. Asked about Donald Trump’s return to the White House, she insisted on her willingness to meet with him and his team to “work out common policies”. “The EU and the US are stronger and safer when we work together.”she stressed.

Woman and three children killed by Russian strike in Ukraine

A woman and her three children were killed in their apartment by a Russian missile strike on Kryvyï Rig, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown in east-central Ukraine, according to the final death toll announced Tuesday by the Ukrainian authorities. A Russian missile destroyed a section of a residential building on Monday morning. The regional governor announced in the evening that the woman’s body had been found buried under the rubble, and that fourteen people had been injured. Later, rescuers found the bodies of her three children, the General Prosecutor’s Office said on Tuesday morning, announcing the end of the rescue operation.

Their grandmother told local media that the children were two boys, aged two and ten, and a two-month-old girl. According to her, the father survived, as he had gone into another room at the time of the explosion. In total, “some forty residential buildings” in this industrial city were damaged in the Russian attack on Monday morning, said Interior Minister Igor Klymenko. This tragedy provoked a wave of emotion in Ukraine, recalling a similar tragedy in Lviv, a large western city where a mother and her three teenage daughters were killed in their home by a Russian missile in early September. Only the father survived. “Yesterday’s attack in Kryvyï Rig took the life of a mother and her three children (…) Only the father survived. This is indescribable grief! Condolences to the relatives”Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Loubinets said on Telegram on Tuesday.