The United States will not provide the F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine has been looking for in its fight against Russia, President Joe Biden said so on Monday, as Russian troops claimed a series of incremental gains in the east of the country.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s top adviser, Andriy Yermak, has suggested that Poland is ready to supply Ukraine with the F-16 fighters. Yermak said Ukraine had received “positive signals” from Warsaw in a Telegram post, although Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawieckicautiously stressed that his own country would act only in consultation with NATO allies, as Ukraine’s lobbying for the warplanes got underway just days after Germany and the US agreed to send tanks.
Zelenskiy has called for faster delivery of Western weapons. During his nightly speech, the Ukrainian president said Russia hoped to prolong the war and exhaust his country’s ability to resist the invaders. “So we must make time our weapon. We must expedite events, accelerate supplies and open new necessary weapons options for Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said.
The Kremlin warned that the western supply of more weapons to Ukraine would only lead to a “significant escalation” of the conflict. Kiev “is increasingly demanding weapons,” while NATO countries “became more and more directly involved in the conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, after Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Andriy Melnyk called on Germany to withdraw from his country. send a submarine.
Russian forces continued to attack positions across the front line near the eastern cities of Bakhmut and Donetsk. Moscow forces have been bombarding Bakhmut in the Donbas for several months, but in recent days the invaders appeared to have made another attempt to gain ground around the village of Vuhledar, 30 miles southwest of Donetsk city.
The situation in Bakhmut and Vuhledar was “very tough” with both areas and other parts of the Donetsk region “under constant Russian attacks”, Zelensky said. Close to the junction with the southern Zaporizhzhia front, Vuhledar is considered a pivot point for both sides, but remains in Ukrainian hands despite a claim to the contrary by the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Ukrainearmy and Russia Wagner private military group both claim to have control in the area of Blessingseastern Donetsk region.
Dmitry Medvedevlongtime ally of Vladimir Putin and currently deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, boasted that the sanctions have little effect on the Russian economy.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and JapanPrime Minister Fumi Kishida on Tuesday pledged to strengthen ties, saying Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing military cooperation with China have created the most tense security situation since World War II.
A Russian court has fined the streaming service Twitch 4 million rubles (£46,200/$57,000) for not removing what it said were “fakes” about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
UkraineThe State Department criticized the president of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic, as he said Crimea would never again be under Ukrainian control, describing his comment as “unacceptable”. On Monday, in remarks about his objection to Zagreb’s provision of military aid to Kiev, Milanović said it was “clear that Crimea will never again be part of Ukraine”.
Russia and Belarus have begun a week-long training session for the joint command of their regional armed forces, the Belarusian defense ministry said on Tuesday.
The Russian government on Monday banned domestic oil exporters and customs authorities from adhering to Western-imposed price caps on Russian crude oil. The measure was enacted to help enforce President Vladimir Putin’s decree of December 27, which banned the supply of crude oil and oil products for five months from February 1 to countries that adhered to the limits. The new Russian law prohibits companies and individuals from including oil price cap mechanisms in their contracts.
UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has said the tanks donated to Ukraine will arrive at the frontline “this side of summer”. Britain should be “really proud” that it has led the world in supporting Ukraine and confronting Russian aggression, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.