Poland is ready to immediately transfer all its MiG-29 planes free of charge to the US government as part of a move to give the planes for use by the Ukrainian air force to repel the Russia invasion, the Polish government has announced.
Poland also said it was asking the US to provide it with used aircraft with similar operational capabilities. Poland is ready to immediately agree on the terms of purchase of these machines.
The Polish government also asks other Nato owners of MiG-29 planes to act in a similar way.
The move follows weeks of backstage negotiations and discussions in London between the Polish prime minister and Boris Johnson.
The Coca-cola company is the latest multinational brand to announce that they will also be temporarily suspending all business in Russia, following similar announcements today from McDonald’s and Starbucks.
In a statement released today, Coco-cola shared the decision, stating:
The Coca-Cola Company announced today that it is suspending its business in Russia.
Our hearts are with the people who are enduring unconscionable effects from these tragic events in Ukraine.
We will continue to monitor and assess the situation as circumstances evolve.
Poland has said it will hand over its MiG-29 fighter jets to the US, which is then expected to donate them to Ukraine amid intelligence agency warnings that Vladimir Putin is about to “double down” in his invasion.
The Polish foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, said his government was “ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein air base and place them at the disposal of the government of the United States of America”.
Poland is thought to have 28 of the Soviet-era warplanes, and has been in negotiation with the Biden administration on a three-way deal to supply Ukraine with air power, on condition that the MiGs would be replaced by newer US jets.
The deal has the effect of sharing the risk of Russian retaliation with the US, which will decide how and when to hand them to the Ukrainian air force.
“Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities,” Rau said in a statement on his ministry’s website. “Poland is ready to immediately establish the conditions of purchase of the planes.”
Rau requested other Nato allies with MiG-29 jets – a reference to Slovakia and Bulgaria – to “act in the same vein”.
Poland announced the deal as US officials said the war in Ukraine had reached a pivotal moment, with Russia sustaining severe losses but with Putin determined to press on.
“I think the next couple of days are going to be critical for both the humanitarian situation and also for the tide of this war,” Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told the Guardian…
Read the full article here.
Starbucks announced today that they will temporarily close all cafes located in Russia, following a similar announcement from McDonald’s earlier today, reported Agence France-Presse.
Starbucks also confirmed that they will stop shipments of their products as well.
From Reuters:
…The company said that Kuwait-based Alshaya Group, which operates at least 100 Starbucks cafes in Russia, will “provide support to the nearly 2,000 partners in Russia who depend on Starbucks for their livelihood.”…
Before the announcement that it would put all its MIG-29 at the US’ disposal, Poland came under pressure from the UK to go ahead with the deal.
The issue was discussed by the Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki with Boris Johnson at a meeting in London that also saw the start of discussions about a long term reconstruction plan for Ukraine.
Johnson supports the transfer of the MiGs to Ukraine but in public, London stresses that it is a sovereign decision for Warsaw to take since in the words of the UK defence secretary Ben Wallace, Poland is most likely to face any “blowback” from Russia.
Poland had publicly opposed the move, saying it would likely be seen as a dangerous escalation by Russia, but was apparently happy to go ahead if the proposal was backed by Nato and the US provided replacement American F-16 fighter planes.
The Polish prime minister was in London to meet Johnson alongside the prime ministers of Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, the so-called V4 group inside the EU .
The V4 countries have taken three quarters of the 2m Ukrainians that have poured into the European Union, including more than 1m in Poland alone. Nearly half are children placing strains on the 4 countries education systems if the refugees feel unable to return in the short term
There are clear differences between the approach to the conflict between Hungary and the other V4 states. Orban, close to Vladimir Putin but critical of his invasion, had rejected further Nato troops on Hungarian soil, and refused to send arms to Ukraine. He had also derided sanctions against Russia as an ineffective policy tool, but has not used his veto to block EU measures.
By contrast, Morawiecki called for further sanctions, and his government supports a full block on Russian energy imports into Europe.
“We can dismantle Putin’s war machine only by means of very strong and firm sanctions,” he said.
Speaking after the meeting Orban said he opposed an EU energy boycott of Russia saying “the price of war should not be paid by ordinary Hungarian families. Most of the oil and gas coming into the country comes from Russia and 90% of Hungarian families heat their homes with gas. Without oil and gas the Hungarian economy simply cannot function. If we were to end energy cooperation with Russia, the energy bills of every Hungarian family would triple in a single month”.
Orban is facing elections next month and is trying to downplay his past support for Putin, and the way in which he allowed his economy to become so dependent on Russian energy.
Russian forces will stop firing starting 10 am Moscow time tomorrow and are ready to provide human corridors so civilians can evacuate Kyiv and four other cities, reported Reuters.
Russian forces will stop firing from 10 am Moscow time (0700 GMT) on Wednesday and are ready to provide human corridors so people can leave Kyiv and four other cities, Tass news agency cited a senior Russian official as saying on Tuesday.
Information about corridors from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol will be sent to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, the official said.
Following McDonald’s announcement that it would pausing its business following the invasion of Ukraine, here’s how Jonathan Steele reported on the opening of the chain’s first restaurant in the then-USSR for the Guardian in 1990:
A QUARTER of an hour to closing time, the queue outside the first Soviet McDonald ‘s was down to 300.
‘We’ll go on to midnight if necessary to serve all these good people,’ Mr George Godden, the operations manager, promised as he stood at the front of the line in Moscow last night, letting batches of 30 or 40 people in every five minutes.
On the first day of its opening more than 20,000 people streamed into the fantasy-land restaurant which is not only bigger than any other in the world but also more lavish in its decor. Most of the customers had never had a hamburger in their lives.
Natalya Kaltshekh, a doctor in her early forties, gazed at the huge plate glass windows behind which happy Russians were tucking into food twice as fast as anything else Moscow has ever offered.
She had only been queuing for 15 minutes and was already at the front of the line. In her hand she held a copy of the multi-coloured menu given out to people in the queue. ‘I have never eaten this kind of food,’ she confessed. She had heard about McDonald ‘s on Soviet television.
People did not stay inside as long as the management had feared. They had worried that customers would be much slower than the food.
‘Not a bit of it,’ said Mr Godden. ‘They’ve stayed on average just the same time as anywhere else in the world’.
Many people had bought several portions to take home, he said. ‘They’re feeding their families on this.’
A couple of young computer science undergraduates, Volodya and Natasha Leshinsky, emerged smiling after about 40 minutes inside. Asked how it compared with typical Soviet cafes, Natasha said: ‘The service is so good’.
They had eaten hamburgers before at one of the new co-operative cafes, Volodya said. ‘But the meat is poor quality, and it was relatively more expensive, at least for what you were getting for your money. This place is world class’.
Half a dozen policemen stood around near stacks of crash barriers.
Earlier in the day the queue had been up to 2,000, snaking back
through a zig-zag of barriers on the edge of Pushkin Square, Moscow ‘s Piccadilly Circus, a favourite spot for strollers, except that it has been remarkably devoid of neon until today.
Now it is lit up by McDonald ‘s trademark golden yellow arch.
The restaurant is a joint venture between the Moscow City Council and McDonald ‘s Canadian subsidiary.
It has taken 14 years to get McDonald ‘s to Moscow . The first
overtures were made at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Unlike most other joint ventures in the service field this one only takes roubles.
Westerners in Moscow are surrounded by joint venture hotels,
restaurants, xeroxing offices, film processing kiosks, and food shops. None of them cater for the vast majority of Russians who have no access to hard currency.
McDonald ‘s has done it differently. Its vice-president, George Cohon, remembers the moment when one Russian looked at the plaque outside the door which says that service is for roubles only.
‘This is perestroika,’ he beamed.
Ukraine warned the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it has become increasingly urgent to rotate the 210 technical personnel and guards working at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant since Russia took control there, citing safety reasons, said IAEA director director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.
From the IAEA website:
In contrast to the current situation for staff at Ukraine’s operating nuclear power plants who are rotating regularly, the same shift has been on duty at the Chernobyl NPP since the day before the Russian military entered the site of the 1986 accident on 24 February, in effect living there for the past 13 days, the regulator said.
The Ukrainian regulator added that the staff had access to food and water, and medicine to a limited extent. However, the situation for the staff was worsening. It asked the IAEA to lead the international support needed to prepare a plan for replacing the current personnel and for providing the facility with an effective rotation system.
Director general Grossi has repeatedly stressed that staff operating nuclear facilities must be able to rest and work in regular shifts, stating this is crucial for overall nuclear safety. Their capacity to make decisions free of undue pressure is among the seven indispensable pillars of nuclear safety and security he outlined at a meeting of the IAEA’s board of governors on 2 March, convened to address the safety, security and safeguards implications of the situation in Ukraine.
“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety. I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there,” he said today…
The director general also indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chernobyl NPP had been lost. The Agency is looking into the status of safeguards monitoring systems in other locations in Ukraine and will provide further information soon.
Read the full statement here.
Here’s the full statement from the Polish government following its announcement that it is ready to immediately transfer MiG-29 planes to the US for Ukrainian use:
The authorities of the Republic of Poland, after consultations between the president and the government, are ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein airbase and place them at the disposal of the government of the United States of America.
At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities. Poland is ready to immediately establish the conditions of purchase of the planes.
The Polish government also requests other Nato allies – owners of MiG-29 jets – to act in the same vein.
Poland is ready to immediately transfer all its MiG-29 planes free of charge to the US government as part of a move to give the planes for use by the Ukrainian air force to repel the Russia invasion, the Polish government has announced.
Poland also said it was asking the US to provide it with used aircraft with similar operational capabilities. Poland is ready to immediately agree on the terms of purchase of these machines.
The Polish government also asks other Nato owners of MiG-29 planes to act in a similar way.
The move follows weeks of backstage negotiations and discussions in London between the Polish prime minister and Boris Johnson.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has tweeted out a message of thanks to US president Joe Biden following an announcement today that the US will ban Russian oil imports, with Zelenskiy encouraging other world leaders to follow suit.
From Zelenskiy:
Thankful for US and @POTUS personal leadership in striking in the heart of Putin’s war machine and banning oil, gas and coal from US market. Encourage other countries and leaders to follow.
Here is a summary of the latest events on the 13th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s government accused Russia of breaking a ceasefire agreement, by shelling a route intended to allow civilians to escape the besieged city of Mariupol. Not only are residents of the port city suffering Russian bombardment, they are also living without heat, water, sanitary systems or phones.
- Earlier in the day, Russia said it was opening humanitarian corridors from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol so that civilians could be evacuated. Some Sumy residents, including Nigerian and Indian students, have now left the city on buses.
- Two million people have fled Ukraine since the war began less than two weeks ago, the UN refugee agency reported.
- Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy echoed Winston Churchill and invoked the fight against Nazism as he made a direct plea to British MPs in an impassioned video address to do more to help protect his country in the fight against the Russian invasion.
- Military experts said Russia was overcoming its logistics problems and could mount an assault on Kyiv within days.
- Joe Biden announced that the United States will ban imports of Russian oil “to inflict further pain on Vladimir Putin”. The European Union has not joined the ban, but the European Commission said it was possible to reduce the EU’s use of fossil fuels by two thirds this year. The British government promised to phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year.
- McDonald’s became the latest western company to announce it was pausing its operations in Russia, after facing a backlash from social media users for not taking a stand on the war in Ukraine. Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, issued an appeal to international corporations to stop doing business in Russia.
- The World Health Organisation said attacks on Ukrainian hospitals, ambulances and other healthcare facilities had increased “rapidly” in recent days and vital medical supplies were running low. The UN agency said it was working to urgently get medical supplies to Ukraine. Among the supplies running low are oxygen, insulin, PPE, surgical supplies and blood products.
- The European Commission has prepared a new sanctions package against Russia and Belarus that will hit additional Russian oligarchs and politicians as well as three Belarusian banks, Reuters reported. Sources told the news agency that the sanctions would ban three Belarusian banks from the Swift banking system and add more Russian oligarchs and politicians to the EU blacklist.
- Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs has said that 12,000 Russian personnel have been killed in its latest assessment of their losses to date. They said so far Russian forces had also lost 48 aircraft, 80 helicopters, 303 tanks, 1,036 armed vehicles, 120 artillery pieces and 27 anti-aircraft warfare systems. The head of the CIA told US lawmakers on Tuesday that it believed between 2,000-4,000 Russian soldiers had been killed.
That’s all from me, Jennifer Rankin. I am now handing the blog to Gloria Oladipo. Thank you for following so far.
Putin is likely to “double down” on his invasion of Ukraine, but will find it difficult to keep hold of captured territories and install a pro-Russia regime, said top US intelligence officials, reported Politico.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is likely to “double down” in Ukraine as his forces remain frustrated nearly two weeks into their invasion, but he will find it “especially challenging” to maintain control of captured territory and install a sustainable pro-Moscow regime in Kyiv, the leaders of the top U.S. intelligence agencies told congressional lawmakers on Tuesday.
Speaking before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence during the panel’s annual hearing on worldwide threats, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Russia’s invasion has thus far “proceeded consistent with the plan we assessed the Russian military would follow — only they are facing significantly more resistance from Ukrainians than they expected and encountering serious military shortcomings.”
Although it still remains “unclear” whether Russia will pursue a “maximalist plan to capture all or most of Ukraine,” Haines said, such an effort would run up against what the U.S. intelligence community assesses “is likely to be a persistent and significant insurgency” by Ukrainian forces, who have proven their mettle over a dozen days of combat with the Russian invaders.
The remarks from Haines and four fellow intelligence agency leaders — Defense Intelligence Agency Director Scott Berrier, CIA Director William Burns, National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone and FBI Director Christopher Wray — represented some of the most candid assessments of Moscow’s thinking by U.S. officials since the start of the security crisis late last month. Biden administration spokespeople have been largely reluctant to speculate about the Kremlin’s wartime strategy.
Read the full article here.
More than 1,200 international students trapped in the besieged city of Sumy are among thousands of people now being evacuated, reports the Guardian’s West Africa correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu.
A “humanitarian corridor” from Sumy in east Ukraine to Poltava, 175km south, was agreed with Russia, said Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister earlier on Tuesday.
The news of the evacuation comes as a huge relief to many in Sumy, who were effectively trapped. Shelling, blasts and fighting has largely occurred on the outskirts of the city, yet overnight at least 21 people including two children were killed by Russian bombs on a residential street in the city, according to the regional prosecutor’s office said.
Main roads and bridges leading out of Sumy have been damaged by the fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine last week. Many people are running low on food and water and some students in Sumy have resorted to boiling ice and were falling ill. University staff and volunteers were helping the students each day, delivering food and water.
Some students escaped Sumy in private vehicles in recent days, against orders from Ukrainian troops, driving through forestry and through areas where fighting had occurred to get away. Many in the city became increasingly fearful of being able to survive, as food supplies in stores have depleted.
Before the evacuations began, about 360 Nigerian students had been trapped in hostels in Sumy, thought to be the second largest group after about 700 Indians and students of other nationalities including Ireland, Tanzania and Ghana.
Nigeria’s foreign minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, said on Tuesday afternoon he was “delighted and mightily relieved that the evacuation of our Nigerian students from Sumy has commenced. They are in our thoughts and prayers as they undertake the very long and hazardous trip to safety,” in a statement.
“A million thanks to the government of Ukraine,” he added, also thanking volunteers and aid groups involved in the evacuation.
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