Allies won’t supply fighter jets to Kyi…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda urged countries to cross the red line and send military planes and long-range missiles, saying it was vital to act without delay because “the turning point is about to happen”.
Beijing is closely watching Russia’s war in Ukraine and learning lessons that may influence future decisions, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on a visit to Tokyo, stressing warnings about China’s behaviour, including its threats towards Taiwan.
Key developments
On the ground
Russia carried out three aviation strikes and four missile strikes in the past 24-hour period, the General Staff of the Ukrainian army said on Facebook. Russian forces continued their offensive in the directions of Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiivka. Russian attacks were repelled near two settlements in the Luhansk region and 11 settlements in the Donetsk region. Russian forces continued shelling residential areas near the border with Russia to the north and along the contact line. Ukrainian aviation carried out four strikes against Russian military strongholds.
Kyiv’s allies say they won’t send fighter jets
President Joe Biden said on Monday that the US wouldn’t send F-16s to Ukraine, joining the UK and Germany, which have also ruled out sending their military fighters.
The UK said it was not practical to send fighter jets to Ukraine, even as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his Cabinet on Tuesday that Britain was accelerating its support to the war-torn nation.
“In terms of the UK’s fighter jets, these are sophisticated pieces of equipment so we do not think it’s practical,” Sunak’s spokesperson, Max Blain, told reporters on Tuesday, citing the length of time needed to learn to use “very complex pieces of equipment”.
Norway wealth fund’s Russia exit held up by sanctions on its bank
Norway’s $1.3-trillion sovereign wealth fund is prevented from selling its Russian holdings as the custodian bank is under sanctions.
“The situation is deadlocked” regarding assets in the country, worth $292-million, Trond Grande, deputy chief executive officer, told reporters at a news conference in Oslo. Just days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Norway decided to shed Russian assets from the fund, though its management had initially warned against such a plan.
Read: Norway fund says Russia exit held up by sanctions on its bank
Ukraine improves ranking on Corruption Perceptions Index
Transparency International moved Ukraine up its Corruption Perceptions Index scale to 116th position among 180 countries in 2022, from 122nd a year earlier, according to its website. Corruption investigations followed by a government shakeup in January were not included in the 2022 ranking.
“Recent outstanding corruption cases concerning, in particular, procurement during the war with Russia, are difficult to explain not only to Ukrainians, who protect freedom on their different fronts, but also to foreign partners,” Andriy Borovyk, executive director of Transparency International Ukraine, said according to the statement on the website.
China is learning from Putin’s war, Nato chief warns
Beijing is closely watching Russia’s war in Ukraine and learning lessons that may influence future decisions, Nato chief Stoltenberg said, stressing warnings about China’s behaviour, including its threats toward Taiwan.
“If President Putin wins in Ukraine, this would send a message that authoritarian regimes can achieve their goals through brute force. This is dangerous,” Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo. “What is happening in Europe today could happen in east Asia tomorrow.”
Estonia puts pressure on top priest to drop out of pro-Kremlin event
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Estonia, Metropolitan Eugeni, pulled out of a planned demonstration in Tallinn that the Estonian government said was organised by a pro-Kremlin group.
The Estonian Interior Ministry demanded an explanation from the church, which sits adjacent to the Estonian Parliament building in the mainly Lutheran country, saying it was “disturbing” that the metropolitan bishop had “befriended a Kremlin-minded movement”. The church quickly withdrew from the event on Tuesday, saying in a statement that it had regrettably been “the victim of a political provocation”.
Last year, the ministry threatened to revoke Metropolitan Eugeni’s Estonian residence permit, pressuring him to distance himself from Moscow Patriarch Kirill, who supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia probably seeking new offensive axis southwest of Donetsk, says UK
Russia is probably trying to develop a new axis of advance southwest of Donetsk to divert Ukrainian forces from the heavily contested Bakhmut sector in the region’s north, the UK defence ministry said.
Russia had probably developed its probing attacks around the towns of Pavlivka and Vuhledar into a more concerted assault even as it was unlikely that it had sufficient uncommitted troops in the area to achieve a significant breakthrough, according to the ministry’s assessment.
Lithuanian president calls for fighter jets for Ukraine
Nato partners must cross yet another red line and send fighter jets and long-range missiles to Ukraine, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said.
“I hope that this red line — if it really exists, and I think it exists only in our heads — will be crossed too,” Nauseda said in a TV interview with LRT. “Because fighter jets and long-range missiles are essential military aid, and at this crucial stage in the war, where the turning point is about to happen, it is vital that we act without delay.” DM
