BRUSSELS: A 90-year-old man accused of killing his wife three years ago is suspected of stabbing to death two elderly residents of a nursing home in Belgium, officials said Friday.
A third resident, a 94-year-old woman, was also in a critical condition in hospital after the attack in Dentergem, western Belgium, the local prosecutor’s office said.
Two men aged 97 and 93 died on the spot after the attacks in separate rooms, it added, saying the suspected attacker has been arrested.
Local mayor Koenraad Degroote told AFP the attacks were carried out with a small knife.
The alleged assailant is accused of killing his 87-year-old wife with a hammer in September 2021, but found mentally unfit to stand trial in a criminal court, Degroote said, confirming Belgian media reports.
“The opinion of the courts was that he should be institutionalized and not in prison. So he was institutionalized in this home,” Degroote told AFP.
“The investigation is underway into the circumstances” of the attack, the prosecutor’s office said, with a forensic team dispatched to the site.
Man, 90, suspected of killing two in Belgium nursing home
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Man, 90, suspected of killing two in Belgium nursing home
- Two men aged 97 and 93 died on the spot after the attacks in separate rooms
- Local mayor Koenraad Degroote told AFP the attacks were carried out with a small knife
Ukraine, US, Europe still seeking common ground in peace talks, French official says
- French presidency official: “The European perspective of Ukraine is clear and it’s a realistic perspective”
PARIS: Ukraine, the United States and European powers are still working to find a joint position that would outline the contours of a peace deal, including security guarantees for Kyiv, that could be taken to Russia, a French presidency official said on Friday.
“Our goal is to have a common foundation that is solid for negotiation. This common ground must unite Ukrainians, Americans and Europeans,” the official told reporters in a briefing.
“It should allow us, together, to make a negotiating offer, a solid, lasting peace offer that respects international law and Ukraine’s sovereign interests, an offer that American negotiators are willing to bring to the Russians.”
The official said there was no joint document yet, but all sides would carry on negotiations in the coming days through various calls and meetings. He did not say whether Washington had set a deadline.
Kyiv is under pressure from the White House to secure a quick peace but is pushing back on a US-backed plan proposed last month that many see as favorable to Moscow.
Britain, France and Germany, along with other European partners and Ukraine, have been working frantically in the last few weeks to refine the original US proposals that envisaged Kyiv giving up swathes of its territory to Moscow, abandoning its ambition to join NATO and accepting limits on the size of its armed forces.
The French official said the talks aimed at narrowing differences with the United States and centered on territory and potential security guarantees for Ukraine once there is a peace accord.
Those discussions include the possibility of a NATO Article-5 type clause involving Washington that would seek to reassure Kyiv in case it was once again attacked by Russia, the official said.
The Europeans have also faced pressure in recent weeks with some American proposals touching on elements that concern NATO and the European Union, including suggestions on fast-tracking Ukraine’s accession to the bloc.
“The European perspective of Ukraine is clear and it’s a realistic perspective,” the official said. “That is what we are committed to and it is up to the Europeans and the Ukrainians to agree on how to proceed.”
