On the 387th day of the war in Ukraine, kyiv awaits the delivery of four MiG-29 fighter-bombers promised by Poland. In Bakhmout, the Ukrainians resist tirelessly, indicated the head of the people’s republic of Donetsk. Meanwhile, discussions between Beijing and kyiv are taking shape. A dialogue between Xi Jinping and Volodymyr Zelensky strongly encouraged by Washington which believes that China should hear the enemy of its ally Russia.
The main information:
– Poland is to deliver four MiG-29 fighter-bombers to Ukraine.
– Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill pointed to the expulsion of the branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church linked to the Moscow Patriarchate.
– Xi Jinping, president of Russia’s ally China, is expected to get in touch with Volodymyr Zelensky soon.
The Patriarch of Moscow denounces the takeover of a monastery “cradle” of Russian Orthodoxy
The Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on Thursday deemed “monstrous” the announced expulsion of the branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church attached until recently to the Moscow Patriarchate, from an emblematic monastery in Kiev described as the “cradle” of Orthodoxy Russian.
In the midst of an armed conflict with Russia, the Ukrainian authorities demanded last week that these monks currently occupying the famous Lavra of the Caves of kyiv leave the place before March 29. “The ultimatum of the (Ukrainian) state authorities targeting the Kyiv Lavra represents a monstrous act comparable to the persecution of the faith in times of impiety,” Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said in a message. video published by its press service.
Founded in the 11th century and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Kiev Lavra, which overlooks the banks of the Dnieper, is home to monks who are part of the branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church subject before the war to the Moscow Patriarchate.
Poland to supply kyiv with MiG-29 fighters, a first for NATO
Poland will deliver a first batch of four MiG-29 fighter-bombers to Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced on Thursday, which will be the first such delivery by a NATO member. “In the coming days, we will first transfer (…) four fully operational aircraft to Ukraine,” Andrzej Duda told reporters.
kyiv has repeatedly asked its Western allies to send it modern fighter-bombers, hoping to get American F-16s. The Polish decision “does not change anything”, however, to the American refusal to do the same, assured John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House shortly after. “It doesn’t change our analysis. (…) It’s not on the table,” he told reporters, recalling that President Joe Biden had publicly opposed the delivery of combat aircraft to Ukraine.
A conversation between Zelensky and Xi would be ‘a very good thing’
A conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chinese President Xi Jinping “would be a very good thing,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Thursday.
Assuring that the United States had long “encouraged” such contact, he said: “We think it is very important that the Chinese hear the Ukrainians’ point of view and not only that of (Vladimir) Putin.”
The Ukrainian president had said at the end of February that he was planning a meeting with the Chinese leader. The Wall Street Journal claimed earlier this week that Xi Jinping planned to speak to his Ukrainian counterpart soon, in what would be their first conversation since Russia invaded Ukraine just over a year ago. According to the daily, the conversation could take place after a planned visit next week by the Chinese president to Moscow.