Top US Diplomat Blinken in Moldova amid Ukraine Refugee Crush

File: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks at the State Department in Washington, US, November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger
File: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks at the State Department in Washington, US, November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger
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Top US Diplomat Blinken in Moldova amid Ukraine Refugee Crush

File: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks at the State Department in Washington, US, November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger
File: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks at the State Department in Washington, US, November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Moldova Saturday to show US support as it faces a surge of refugees from Ukraine and fears it too could come under threat from Moscow.

Blinken is expected to provide reassurances for the small country, which has been fractured by a pro-Moscow breakaway region, Transnistria, on Ukraine's western border. Some analysts believe that territory could be used as a staging point in the Russian military's invasion of Ukraine, AFP said.

Tens of thousands of refugees have streamed into Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, straining its social services.

Hours before his arrival, Blinken visited the border of Ukraine in Poland, which has taken in 700,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Blinken told the Poles that Washington was seeking $2.75 billion to help address the humanitarian crisis created by Moscow's attack on Ukraine.

The war has given new impetus to Moldova's hopes of joining the European Union.

The government formally submitted a request to join the bloc on Thursday, along with Georgia.

Blinken was planning to meet with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita and Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu on Sunday.

Earlier this week Sandu, elected in 2020 on a pro-Western program, told EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that the country was facing "serious" security risks.

From the capital Chisinau, "you can hear the nose of the bombs across the border", she said.



Bodies of Four Migrants Found as Boat Sinks off Greek Island of Lesbos

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
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Bodies of Four Migrants Found as Boat Sinks off Greek Island of Lesbos

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture

The bodies of four migrants - one boy, one girl and two women - have been recovered from a sinking boat off the Greek island of Lesbos while another 23 migrants were rescued, Greece's coastguard said on Thursday.

The boat was detected by a patrolling coastguard vessel at about 2 a.m. (2300 GMT). A search and rescue operation was still ongoing, a coastguard official said. It was not immediately clear how many people may have been on the boat, Reuters reported.

Greece, in the southeast corner of the European Union, has long been a favored gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 2015 nearly 1 million people landed on its islands.

Last year, about 54,000 migrants reached Greece, the second largest number in southern Europe behind Italy. The vast majority of them arrived by sea, according to data from the UN refugee agency UNHCR.