Poland is about to send four MiG-29 planes to Ukraine. The Polish president, Andrzej Duda, said that Warsaw would hand over four of the Soviet-made fighter planes in the coming days and that “the rest is prepared, served”. His announcement will make Poland the first country to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine, marks a significant step up in military support for Kiev
Poland’s decision to give Ukraine MiG-29 fighter jets was a ‘sovereign decision’, the White House said and would not urge Joe Biden to provide Kiev with US F-16 jets. The President of the United States has earlier said the United States will not provide the F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine has sought in its fight against Russia. White House spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that President Duda’s announcement “does not change our calculation with respect to the F-16”.
Russia has committed a wide range of war crimes in Ukraine including deliberate killings, systematic torture and deportation of children, according to a report by a UN-backed investigation published on Thursday. The report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine was released one year to the day after the Russian bombing of a theater in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol that killed hundreds of people. Its chief said the team followed the evidence and that there were “some aspects that may raise questions” about a possible genocide. Russia dismissed the report.
The Pentagon released a video showing the moments before a Russian fighter jet crashed into a US Reaper drone after spraying it with jet fuel on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea. The classified films shows a Su-27 Flanker jet making two exceptionally close passes of the unmanned drone and spraying fuel in front of it, a harassment tactic that US experts say has not been seen before.
The Kremlin said a decision on whether to shoot down the US Reaper drone from the Black Sea would come from the Russian military. “If they consider it necessary to do so in the Black Sea for our interests and for our security, they will deal with it,” the Kremlin spokesman said. Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed leader in occupied Donetsk, told the state-run Tass news agency that he saw no signs of Ukraine pulling out of Bakhmut. He is quoted as said on Thursday: “In Bakhmut, the situation is still complicated, difficult – that is, we do not see that there are any conditions there for the enemy to simply withdraw units.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said he and senior Chinese diplomat Qin Gang had discussed the “importance of the principle of territorial integrity” during a phone call today. “I underlined the importance of (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s) peace formula to end aggression and restore just peace in Ukraine,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
Qin told Kuleba that China “hopes that all parties will remain calm, rational and restrained and resume peace talks as soon as possible”. according to a Statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow as soon as next weekand to subsequently hold a virtual meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Polish authorities say they have detained nine members of a Russian spy ring who they say gathered intelligence on arms shipments to Ukraine and made plans to sabotage the shipments. Six people have been charged with preparation for sabotage and espionage and charges are being prepared against the other three.
The UN called for a 120-day renewal of an agreement allowing the safe export of grain shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports before a deadline later this week. In response to statements by UN spokesperson Stéphane DujarricRussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the agreement “is being extended by 60 days.”
Vladimir Putin has told his country’s top billionaires that Russia is facing a “sanctions war”. IN an address to Russia’s business elite, the president urged them to invest in new technology, production facilities and businesses to help Russia overcome what he said were Western attempts to destroy its economy.
At least one person has been killed and two people injured in an explosion and fire at a building belonging to Russia’s security service FSB in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, according to officials cited by Russian news agencies. Video recording showed thick black smoke billowing into the air near residential buildings and a shopping center in Rostov, the capital of a region bordering parts of eastern Ukraine where fighting with Russia is ongoing.
Ukrainian soldiers shot down a Chinese-made drone near the city of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine. The unmanned aerial vehicle was launched from Russian-held territory on Friday night, before it was shot down from low altitude by Ukrainian forces early on Saturday.