Poland announced this Wednesday evening, September 20, that it was no longer supplying weapons to Kiev, a declaration which illustrates the increasingly strong tensions between the two allies, at a key moment in Kiev’s response to the Russian invasion. “We are no longer transferring any weapons to Ukraine,” declared Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on private television Polsat News.
“We are mainly focusing on modernizing and rapidly arming the Polish army, so that it becomes one of the most powerful land armies in Europe, and in a very short time,” he said. he explains. The military hub located in the town of Rzeszow, in the southeast of the country, through which Western equipment destined for Ukraine passes, is nevertheless operating normally.
This announcement comes a few hours after Warsaw’s “emergency” summons of the Ukrainian ambassador to protest against President Volodymyr Zelensky’s comments at the UN. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian president criticized the world’s greatest powers that “certain countries are feigning solidarity (with Ukraine, editor’s note) by indirectly supporting Russia.” The Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, who received the Ukrainian diplomat, denounced this “false thesis” and “particularly unjustified concerning Poland which has supported Ukraine since the first days of the war”.
A conflict has already been going on since last Friday between Poland and Ukraine, concerning Ukrainian cereals, the import of which Warsaw has banned to protect the interests of its own farmers. The announcement by Brussels on Friday of the end of the ban on the import of Ukrainian cereals, pronounced in May by five EU states, inflamed tempers, provoking unilateral embargoes to which Kiev responded on Monday by announcing to file a complaint before the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Several Ukrainian cities hit by Russian missiles
Several Ukrainian towns were hit by Russian missiles overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, two men being killed in Kherson (south) and seven people injured in Kiev after falling debris, authorities announced. “The Russian army bombed the residential areas of Kherson […] At this stage, we are aware of two dead civilians,” Mr. Prokoudine wrote on Telegram, adding that four people had been transferred to hospital, including one in serious condition, and that a fifth had been treated. on the spot.
He later clarified that the two victims were men aged 29 and 41 living in an apartment building.
During the night, several Ukrainian cities were targeted by Russian attacks, including the capital kyiv, where seven people were injured, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington on Thursday
Aware of the risk of weariness on the part of the great American ally, Volodymyr Zelensky will try Thursday, in Washington, to convince the United States to help him cross “the finish line” against Russia, if possible with new powerful weapons. The atmosphere has changed since his visit on December 21, 2022 to the American capital, during which the Ukrainian president was acclaimed in Congress.
Since then, the sense of urgency has faded, and the Republican opposition has taken control of one of the chambers of parliament. However, the Ukrainian president is expected to meet leaders of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, in particular the Republican boss of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy. “I have questions for him. Can he account for the money we have already spent? What is the strategy for victory?”, launched the conservative leader on Tuesday, under pressure from the right wing of his party to cut off supplies to Kiev.
This financial aspect is further complicated by the very short-term risk of a budgetary paralysis in the United States, if parliamentarians cannot agree before October 1 on at least a provisional finance law. The discussions stumble, in part, on the budget devoted to military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. It is “vital” that Congress releases the $24 billion requested by the executive to support the Ukrainians, John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said Wednesday.
Moscow must heed calls to end the war
Russia must listen to the calls from “almost all states” to end the war in Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Wednesday in an interview with AFP. “Russia must understand that here, as in the General Assembly, almost all States are asking it to immediately stop its aggression against Ukraine,” she declared after an exceptional Security Council meeting in the occasion of the visit to the UN by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Yes, ideas of peace are progressing,” continued the head of diplomacy, noting that at the Security Council, “a number of countries”, non-European or from the North Atlantic, have expressed “their concern” while the war gets bogged down and leads to “consequences in terms of victims, in terms of food insecurity, in terms of attacks even on the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations”.
Asked about possible exchanges with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov who also participated in the Security Council, Catherine Colonna pointed out the fact that the head of Russian diplomacy had only “briefly” sat on the council. “I sat a little longer than him because he came, gave his speech full of untruths as usual and lies, then left,” she said. “So we only saw each other from a long way away.” She also ruled out the usefulness of discussions with him: “If it is to have the same distortion of the facts, of the history and of the responsibilities of Russia, I believe that unfortunately the observation would quickly be made that we are in disagreement,” she said.
Meeting on the reconstruction of Ukraine in Berlin
Germany will organize the next international conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine on June 11, 2024 in Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Wednesday after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York.
The last conference of this type, in London, brought together for two days in June leaders and representatives of more than 60 countries and financial institutions in particular to release funds for the country attacked by Russia. This involves helping Ukraine to keep its economy afloat, and in the longer term, to get its infrastructure and its various sectors of activity back on track. The private sector is also called upon to mobilize.
China wants to strengthen cooperation with Russia
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, visiting Russia, told President Vladimir Putin that Beijing and Moscow should work to strengthen cooperation in the face of a “complex international situation”, Chinese state media reported Thursday. “The world is rapidly moving toward multipolarity,” Wang Yi observed during a meeting with Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, during which the Russian leader accepted an invitation to visit China next month. “The two sides should strengthen multilateral strategic cooperation, protect their legitimate rights and interests, and make new efforts to promote the international order for fairness and justice,” he added.
“Our positions coincide regarding the emergence of a multipolar world,” replied Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin press release. China and Russia consider each other strategic allies, with the two countries frequently touting their “limitless” partnership and economic and military cooperation.
Russia claims to have shot down more than 19 drones
Russia shot down 19 Ukrainian aerial drones overnight over the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean peninsula, as well as three others in the Kursk, Belgorod and Orel regions, the Defense Ministry announced on Thursday. On the night of September 13 to 14, Russia said it had destroyed five Ukrainian drones, this time naval, in the Black Sea as they attempted to attack the patrol boat “Sergueï Kotov”. And on Wednesday, local authorities indicated that they had foiled other strikes by kyiv targeting Sevastopol, a large port on the Black Sea used by the Russian fleet.
Ukrainian assaults against Russian territory have increased in recent months against the backdrop of a counter-offensive launched by kyiv at the beginning of June. Crimea is regularly targeted, as are the Russian regions bordering Ukraine and Moscow.