Continuous bombing and violence in Donbass, and America accuses Russia of looking for a pretext to invade Ukraine

Tensions reached the most intense in eastern Ukraine, with clashes recorded and pro-Russian separatists began evacuating civilians to Russian territory, while the West denounced a "scenario" based on provocations to justify a Russian military intervention, while about 150,000 Russian soldiers are deployed on the Ukrainian border.

Russian-backed separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine said that a car explosion occurred near their government building in the city center of Donetsk, the Russian "TASS" news agency reported on Friday.

The Russian "Interfax" news agency reported that no one was injured in the accident.

Meanwhile, the commander of the "People's Police" of the separatists in the Ukrainian Donetsk region announced in a press statement that he had survived the explosion of his car.

In the afternoon, the sound of shelling was still heard in the city of Stanitsa Luganska in eastern Ukraine, which is under the control of government forces, according to AFP correspondents.

On Thursday, this city was bombed, which damaged a kindergarten and several homes, while the electricity is still cut off in part.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered ten thousand rubles (about 114 euros) to be given to each person evacuated from the Donbass region.

Russian television channels broadcast scenes of the evacuations, while Ukraine reiterated that it has no intention of attacking its enemies.

"The pretext of the invasion"

The White House announced that US President Joe Biden will speak again about the crisis with Russia over Ukraine on Friday at 16:00 (21:00 GMT).

The presidency said Biden would address diplomatic "efforts" and "Russia's deployment of military forces on the border with Ukraine." He will make his intervention after a new crisis meeting by phone with the leaders of the countries allied to Washington, to be held at 14:30 (19:30 GMT).

For his part, Putin on Friday, when receiving his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow, accused Ukraine of refusing to engage in dialogue with the separatists, and said "at the present time we see a deterioration of the situation" in eastern Ukraine.

On Friday, Russia reiterated that it had conducted new withdrawals of its forces from the border with Ukraine, information that Kiev and Western countries question.

Washington says that Russia is looking for a pretext to launch an attack on Ukraine, and the renewed violence in the Donbass may be part of this framework, as Moscow sets itself up as a defender of Russian speakers in the region and has given them Russian passports.

In Brussels, French President Emmanuel Macron called Friday for a "cessation of military operations" that "doubled" in eastern Ukraine, and where "Russian military pressure is not abating."

German Foreign Minister Annalina Bierbock denounced "an unprecedented deployment of troops on the border with Ukraine and demands dating back to the Cold War era. Russia challenges the basic principles of the European peace system," calling on Moscow to show "serious efforts to de-escalate."

Recently, Western countries accused Russia of amassing its forces near the Ukrainian border, while Washington threatened to impose sanctions on Russia if it "launched" an attack on Ukraine.

Pictures | Winds of 200 km Storm "Eunice" hit Britain and northern France

Millions of people stayed home as Storm Eunice hit Britain, accompanied by record-speed winds, on Friday, killing one person in Ireland and two in the Netherlands, before heading to northern France and Belgium.

Hundreds of flights, trains and ferries were canceled in northwest Europe due to the winds caused by Storm Eunice, and it hit Europe less than 48 hours after Storm Dudley, which killed at least five people.

Police said a 60-year-old man was killed when a tree fell in southeastern Ireland on Friday.

Two people were also killed Friday by falling trees, according to the Dutch emergency service.

Winds reached 196 kilometers per hour on the Isle of Wight, an unprecedented phenomenon in Britain, while winds at speeds of more than 110 kilometers per hour hit Heathrow Airport in London.

The British Met Office called millions of Britons to stay at home after it issued a red alert level, the highest, over southwest England and southern Wales as well as the southeast, including London.

Flood risk

Specialist Cirium reported that ferry traffic across the canal has been halted and more than 400 flights canceled at British airports.

And Minister of State for Security Damian Hinds warned on Sky News that "there is a risk of death during this type of severe weather event", stressing that the army is ready to deploy to face this storm, which could be one of the most important in the past three decades.

High winds and high tides raise fears of flooding, especially with heavy rain expected on Saturday.

Europe on alert

In Ireland, more than 80,000 homes were without power at noon, according to local network ESB.

After the UK, Storm Eunice is heading to Denmark, where trains will run slowly and the Storebaelt Bridge, one of the world's longest bridges, will almost certainly have to be closed almost overnight, its operator has warned.

In France, this storm Friday morning caused waves to rise four meters in Brittany, as reported by the French meteorological service, which put five regions on alert orange.

The wind speed reached 110 km per hour in Cap-Gere-Neh in the northwest, and may exceed 140 km per hour locally on the coast in the afternoon.

Storm Eunice hit northern Europe after the continent was hit by storms in recent days. Storm Dudley killed five people in Poland and Germany on Thursday.

While climate change generally enhances and amplifies climate extremes, this is not evident for winds and storms (except for hurricanes) whose number varies greatly from year to year.

The latest report by United Nations climate experts, published in August, estimates, with a very low degree of certainty, that the number of storms may have increased in the northern hemisphere since the 1980s.

To compete and control the balance with America, Europe seeks to abolish arms taxes among its countries

The initiative to abolish the value-added tax on European defense market transactions comes amid European efforts to further stimulate joint procurement within the European Union, rebalance arms contracts and adopt some form of financial reciprocity towards the United States.

European Internal Market Commissioner Terry Bretton has stated that if the value-added tax (VAT) is eliminated in the European defense market's transactions, it will make it "more competitive" against US offers.

This proposal comes amid European efforts to further stimulate joint procurement of defense capabilities developed in a cooperative manner within the European Union, according to the " Euronews " news network.

Breton said that in light of the competition between the markets for the sale of Rafale combat aircraft and US F-35 fighter jets, the EU would "inevitably encourage adjustments to the tax rules on armaments".

The initiative relates to a series of "important measures" in the field of European defense, which, according to the Commission, aim to "stimulate innovation and address the consequences of the military armaments industry".

The Commission has put forward several initiatives aimed at strengthening critical areas of defense and security within the European Union.

These initiatives cover a full range of challenges, from the manufacture of conventional defense equipment on land, sea and air, to cyberthreats.

'Treat America Reciprocity'

According to the text of the proposal, which emphasized "the European Commission's encouragement of effective tools that contribute to the joint acquisition of defense capabilities cooperatively developed within the European Union", the planning for exemption from value-added tax will be effective as of next year.

The Commissioner for the European Internal Market believes that tax exemption for everything related to military industrialization within the European bloc countries is "necessary to restore balance to arms contracts in the European Union and to adopt a form of financial reciprocity towards the United States."

It is noteworthy that Washington does not subject sales of military equipment abroad to value-added tax or customs duties in the country of destination, and similar regulations apply to the NATO Procurement Agency.

This European initiative also specifically targets the American F-35, which is of interest to more than 12 European countries, including the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Belgium and most recently Finland.