Romanian authorities, as part of a campaign to combat fictitious registration, annulled 162,036 national identity cards (carte de identitate) from the launch of checks in 2023 through December 31, 2025, Romanian media reported, citing data from the Interior Ministry and the General Directorate for Population Records.
According to the statistics provided, 66% of the annulled documents relate to persons whose place of birth is Moldova, 17% to those born in Romania, and 12% to those born in Ukraine. A further 1% each relates to persons born in Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Russia.
As noted, the checks are linked to identifying cases of mass registrations at a single address. According to the authorities, there were situations where more than 22,000 people were registered at one address in Bucharest.
At the same time, the annulment of an identity card due to problems with address registration does not mean deprivation of citizenship; it affects only the document confirming the registered domicile. According to Radio Moldova, about 20% of those whose documents were annulled have already obtained new Romanian documents on legal grounds.
The United States and Ukraine discussed during talks an “ambitious goal” of agreeing on a draft peace agreement with Russia by March 2026, although the timeline could shift due to the lack of agreements on key issues, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the course of the consultations.
According to the agency, the framework under discussion envisages putting a possible agreement to a nationwide referendum in Ukraine and holding nationwide elections on the same day. Two Reuters sources said May was discussed as a benchmark, however several interlocutors called such a schedule “fantastic.”
Reuters separately points to practical and legal constraints: holding nationwide elections in Ukraine is prohibited during martial law, and election organizers previously assessed that preparing a vote under current conditions would require about six months and legislative changes. In addition, Kyiv, according to the agency’s sources, insists that a ceasefire regime is needed for the campaign in order to ensure the integrity of the vote.
In parallel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the United States would like to find a solution to end the war “by summer,” and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told Reuters that Kyiv seeks to speed up the negotiation process, calling the U.S. role key to reaching a final agreement.
Ukraine’s construction market in 2025, in monetary terms, increased by 24% compared to 2024 – to about UAH 248 billion (approximately EUR 5.3 billion), Rauta Director Andrii Ozeichuk reported in an overview of industry trends. At the same time, the market volume remains 34% below the 2021 level, when it was estimated at around EUR 8 billion.
According to the company’s assessment, the key segments of commercial investment in 2025 remained warehouse, industrial and retail real estate, while Kyiv, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions were named the most attractive for new construction. The segment of restoration and protection of critical infrastructure facilities is singled out separately – about 20% of the market.
Demand from businesses and households shifted toward energy independence: sales of generators rose by 130%, inverters and batteries by 50%, and solar power plants by 100%. In the commercial construction market, the agricultural buildings segment grew most dynamically (+48%), while demand for new housing overall remained at the 2024 level.
Price growth in the industry, according to Rauta, slowed: the cost of construction works and materials in 2025 increased by about 15% versus 24% a year earlier, and housing prices added 5–10%. At the same time, the labor shortage intensified – the lack of specialists is estimated at about 30%, which accelerated wage growth in construction to 25–30% in 2025; among the leaders in increases were monolithic structure workers (+50%), surveyors (+44%) and concrete workers (+38%).
The overview also notes deeper digitalization and regulatory updates: in 2025, the Unified State Electronic System in the Construction Sector (USESCS) became fully operational and its functionality was expanded, the urban planning cadastre geoportal and the “Transparent Construction” application started working, and amendments to the State Building Codes (DBN) on inclusivity enter into force on April 1, 2026.
Indian oil refineries have begun to avoid new purchases of Russian oil for delivery in March-April amid talks between New Delhi and Washington on a trade agreement, which the parties hope to finalize by March, Reuters reports, citing traders and industry sources.
According to the agency, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, and Reliance Industries are not accepting offers for Russian oil with shipments in March and April, although some refineries still have previously agreed deliveries for March. Reuters notes that most other refiners have also stopped new purchases from Russia.
At the same time, as Reuters emphasized earlier, Indian refineries have not received official instructions to stop importing Russian oil and, in the event of a policy change, would require a transition period to complete deals that are already in progress.
The context is the move by the US and India towards an interim trade agreement and the expectation of finalization in March. Against this backdrop, according to Reuters, the US has eased tariff pressure on India, and the American side has publicly linked this to New Delhi’s commitment to reduce purchases of Russian oil.
INDIA, OIL, refineries, RUSSIA
According to Serbian Economist, Serbia has publicly returned to the idea of buying a minority stake in the Hungarian Paks II nuclear power plant project amid the official start of the main stage of construction of the plant in early February 2026, industry sources report.
On February 5, Hungary held a “first concrete” ceremony, pouring concrete into the foundation slab of the reactor building. According to IAEA standards, this is considered the official start date of construction and transfers the facility to the status of “nuclear power plant under construction.”
Belgrade is interested in acquiring a 5-10% stake in the Paks II project. It is expected that such a stake would give Serbia the right to a fixed share of electricity production and could become a long-term source of “base” low-carbon generation for domestic demand.
Paks II involves the construction of two new power units with VVER-1200 reactors (approximately 1,200 MW each). The project is being implemented with the participation of the Russian state corporation Rosatom under a 2014 intergovernmental agreement and is financed in part by a Russian state loan. The goal is to commission the new units in the early 2030s.
This is not the first time Serbia has expressed interest in participating in the project: in November 2024, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that he had asked Budapest to consider selling Serbia up to 10% of the project and emphasized his willingness to pay for the share at market price, with the Hungarian side promising to look into the matter at the time.
Google has updated its statistics on the distribution of Android versions, and according to the published data, only about 58% of devices run on OS versions that continue to receive critical security fixes, while more than 40% of smartphones – over 1 billion devices worldwide – remain on versions for which such patches are no longer released.
The materials indicate that Android 13-16 are considered supported versions. At the time of data collection, the share of Android 16 was estimated at 7.5%, Android 15 at 19.3%, Android 14 at 17.9%, and Android 13 at 13.9%.
A Google representative emphasized that the built-in Google Play Protect protection continues to work on devices starting with Android 7 and provides real-time application verification, but it does not replace system security updates that close vulnerabilities at the OS level.
In the Android Security Bulletin for February 2026, Google also recommends that users update to the latest version of Android whenever possible and install security updates regularly, as additional security mechanisms are implemented in new versions of the platform.
