Russia continues to terrorize Ukraine with missile strikes. An air raid alert was declared four times in most of Ukraine Tuesday. Defense of Bakhmut is of utmost strategic importance, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief says. Poland may send MiG-29 jet fighters to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
Russia launches missile strike on Kramatorsk
On Tuesday morning, a Russian missile strike hit the central part of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk region, killing one person and wounding nine others. The strike blew out windows and damaged the roofs of 25 buildings — three and five-story houses. “In an affected three-story apartment building, people were staying in seven of 24 apartments. We are in contact with those people. Residents of two apartments wanted to move to a shared facility, a dormitory, another apartment or a school, but later refused to do so. They will go to live with their relatives outside the city or leave,” head of the Kramatorsk city military administration Oleksandr Honcharenko said.
Defense of Bakhmut is of utmost strategic importance, Ukraine’s chief commander says
Defense of Bakhmut is key to the stability of the entire front, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Zaluzhnyi said Tuesday.
“I praise the firmness, courage and tenacity of our service members in Bakhmut. The defense operation on this axis is of utmost strategic importance for constraining the enemy. It is key to the stability of the defense of the entire front,” Zaluzhnyi said.
The Commander-in-Chief thanked Ukraine’s defenders who are repelling the Russian occupying troops. On March 14, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, top government officials and military commanders discussed the defense operation on the Bakhmut axis. All expressed a common position to continue holding and defending the city of Bakhmut.
Poland may send MiG-29 jet fighters to Ukraine in coming weeks, Polish PM says
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday that his government may deliver its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
“This might happen within the next four to six weeks,” Morawiecki told a news conference when asked on whether Warsaw would make a decision to send MiG-29 jets.
Last week, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that his country was ready to provide Ukraine with the MiG-29 war planes in coalition with other countries. Poland still may have up to 30 MiG-29s, according to military experts. Duda also said he believes Ukraine’s Armed Forces would want to be “up to the NATO standard” and so would want to use F-16 jets.
Slovakia was considering a possibility of sending 10 of its 11 MiG-29 jet fighters that it took out of service last year.
Czech Republic: what Petr Pavel’s victory means for Ukraine? Ukraine in Flames #369
A retired army general and former senior NATO official Petr Pavel was sworn as the Czech Republic’s new president last week. Pavel’s predecessor, Milos Zeman, focused his foreign policy mission on attempting to reinvigorate trade with China and russia, so Czech political experts frame Pavel’s inauguration as a return to normalcy and a promise of more stability in Prague. Watch Ukraine in flames #369 to find out about what Pavel’s foreign policy will look like and why his victory is important for Ukraine.
Guests:
- Pavel Fischer, Member of the Czech Senate, Diplomat
- Iryna Zabiyaka, Translator, Coordinator of Educational Projects at the Ukrainian Center in Brno
