Poland to send 14 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Putin reprimands US, EU envoys for fuelling war | 5 points

Apr 6, 2023

By India Today World Desk: After much reluctance, Poland decided to send 14 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, helping galvanise support in the West to supply main battle tanks to Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited neighbouring Poland on Wednesday and thanked its people for standing “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine and giving fleeing Ukrainians shelter.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin lambasted the new US and EU ambassadors in blunt language, saying that their countries were responsible for a dramatic deterioration in relations since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine last year, Reuters reported.

Here’s what we know on day 407 of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine

Poland will send 14 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, President Andrzej Duda said at a joint news conference with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During his trip, Zelenskyy said Poland would help form a coalition of Western powers to supply warplanes to Ukraine, as it did with battle tanks earlier this year.

❗️ Poland transfers four more MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine

Andrzej Duda announced it today at the meeting with the Ukrainian President in Warsaw.

By the way, Warsaw has recently handed over to Ukraine 4 jets. In addition, Poland intends to transfer 6 more MiG-29s to Ukraine in… pic.twitter.com/DChtvaMX0Q

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 5, 2023

Poland has led the way in mobilising western military and political support for Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-fledged invasion 13 months ago. Warsaw has positioned itself as one of Kyiv’s staunchest allies.

“You have stood shoulder to shoulder with us, and we are grateful for it,” Zelenskyy said. He was awarded Poland’s oldest and highest civilian distinction, The Order of the White Eagle, by his Polish counterpart.

During his visit to Warsaw, Zelenskyy said Poland had been instrumental in getting Western allies to send battle tanks to Ukraine and he believed it could play the same role in a “planes coalition”. This comes as Ukraine troops continued to defend their eastern bastion of Bakhmut in the face of relentless Russian assaults.

Poland to send 6 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, @AndrzejDuda said during a meeting with @ZelenskyyUa in Warsaw

“I think that in the future we will be able to transfer our whole remaining fleet of MiG-29 to Ukraine if there is still such need,” he addedhttps://t.co/tK7k7NeT2l pic.twitter.com/XM62tKINyO

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) April 5, 2023

However, Ukraine is yet to secure advanced fighter jets such as the US F-16 from the West to help fight back Russian invaders and defend itself from air strikes.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on April 5 he wants to ‘engage China toward a shared responsibility for peace’ in Ukraine when he meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. The French leader arrived in Beijing for a three-day state visit during which he hopes to dissuade Xi Jinping from supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while also developing European trade ties with Beijing.

Macron warned that anyone helping ‘aggressor’ Russia in the Ukraine conflict would become an ‘accomplice’. Macron expressed hope that China will ‘participate in initiatives that are useful to the Ukrainian people’, reported AP.

Putin told the new US and EU ambassadors that US support for a revolution in Ukraine in 2014 had led to the current situation where Russia and Ukraine are in conflict. Putin said there was reason to believe Western intelligence agencies were involved in what he said were sabotage and terrorist acts carried out by Ukraine.

“Dear Madam Ambassador, I know you may not agree, but I cannot but say that the United States’ use … of such tools as support for the so-called ‘colour revolutions’, support in this regard for the coup in Kyiv in 2014, ultimately led to today’s Ukrainian crisis,” Putin said.
Three people were killed and six wounded in artillery attacks on the towns of Oleksievo-Druzhkivka and Velyka Novosilka in the Ukraine-controlled part of the Donetsk region, the regional authorities said on Telegram messaging app. A Ukrainian drone has crashed near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Russia’s RIA news agency cited a Russian officer as saying.