Muristek
Washington, March 6
Fighting for his country's survival, Ukraine's leader has made a "desperate" plea to American lawmakers to help get more warplanes to his military and cut off Russian oil imports as Kyiv tries to stave off the Russian invasion.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu greets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Chisinau, Moldova. He said the US supported Moldova's aspirations to join the European Union. reutersPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday opened the private video call with US lawmakers by telling them this might be the last time they see him alive. He has remained in Kyiv, the capital, which has a vast Russian armoured column threatening from the north.
US may send F-16s
The US is considering sending American-made F-16s as backfill to former Soviet bloc countries in eastern Europe that are now members of NATO They, in turn, would send Ukraine their own Soviet-era MiGs, which Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly There appears to be a logistical problem, however, in sending the F-16s to Poland or other east European allies because of a production backlog These countries would essentially have to give their MiGs to the Ukrainians and accept an IOU (I owe you) from the US for the F-16sTalks over jets
We are looking actively at the question of airplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decide to supply those jets. —Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State
Appearing in what is now his trademark army-green shirt in front of a white wall with the Ukrainian flag, he told them Ukraine needed to secure its skies, either through a no-fly zone enforced by NATO or through the provision of more warplanes so Ukraine could better defend itself.
The Ukrainian President has been pleading for a no-fly zone for days, but NATO has refused the request, saying it could provoke a widespread war with Russia.
The hourlong exchange with some 300 members of Congress and their staffs came as Russian troops continued to shell encircled cities and the number of Ukrainians who have fled the country grew to 1.4 million. — AP
Putin welcomes meet over N-plants
Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday welcomed the idea to hold a trilateral meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russia and Ukraine as "useful" and said it could be held by video link or in a third country, amid growing global concern over the safety of the nuclear power plants in war-torn Ukraine. Russian armed forces have already seized control of the Zaporozhskaya and Chernobyl nuclear power stations during a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Ukraine has told the IAEA that two reactors are operational at Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant. Agencies