Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News on Myanmar, CCP, Ukraine, Russia, disease control
News (1) to (5) / Source : The Irrawaddy
Here is an interesting development from Myanmar: The county’s coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has dropped out of sight.
Various possible reasons have been offered for his disappearance from public view. Some military sources say he has contracted COVID-19 while others say he is suffering from cancer of the lumbar, or lower back, region.
The only thing that’s certain is that the Myanmar military chief—who has gained international notoriety for ousting the country’s democratically elected government in a coup last year claiming electoral fraud, and killing more than 1,500 people for rejecting his rule—has not been seen in public for more than a week.
Those who track Min Aung Hlaing’s movements will be aware that he is rarely off the public radar screen for long. Over the past year since his power grab, there have been a handful of instances in which he has been absent for a few days. Typically, he reappears at a cabinet meeting delivering a long, rambling speech, or resurfaces on a military base to lecture his subordinates and their families on why his coup was legitimate.
However he has never gone missing for a whole week.
News (2)
Min Aung Hlaing last seen on 27 February 2022
He was last seen along with other senior regime members at a religious ceremony in the country’s capital Naypyitaw on 27 February. Since then there has been no sign of him, nor have there been any meetings of the regime’s governing body, despite the fact that the country has been hit by devastating prolonged power outages and skyrocketing commodity prices.
News (3)
Min Aung Hlaing's visit to Pyay cancelled at last minute
The mystery only deepened when his planned trip to Pyay in Bago Region this week was canceled at the last minute, according to military sources there. Min Aung Hlaing rarely postpones or cancels trips unless there is some major issue to deal with.
News (4)
Min Aung Hlaing is wearing a back brace
Among the online responses sparked by the coup leader’s unusual absence from public view is speculation that he is battling a spinal tumor. This theory has been fueled by photos taken of Min Aung Hlaing at a public appearance a few weeks ago showing him wearing a back brace.
News (5)
Burmese hate Min Aung Hlaing, wish him dead or hanged
Whatever the truth may be, the news of his absence has delighted Myanmar people, who have endured serious hardships under his military dictatorship. On Myanmar’s most popular social media platform, Facebook, many users heartily embraced the idea that he has disappeared. Many of the comments are so harsh they could well give him a heart attack should he read them, reflecting the depth of Myanmar people’s hatred of him and the strength of their desire to see his demise. Many Facebook users voiced hope that the people’s death wishes against Min Aung Hlaing had finally come true.
Others wanted more. “Don’t die now! Stay alive until we try you to hang,” said one.
News (6)
Myanmar Junta troops are still striking and burning villages in Sagaing Region while cutting Internet access
Myanmar’s regime has cut internet access across Sagaing Region where armed resistance to the junta is strong. It is also launching airstrikes and torching villages.
Residents said the internet was down across the sprawling region’s 34 townships other than four towns and cities, denying news about the fighting.
A Tabayin resident told The Irrawaddy that the internet was cut three days ago and he heard only Sagaing, Monywa, Kale and Shwebo had access.
Internet access was cut last September in Ayadaw, Yinmabin, Kani, Pale, Ye-U, Taze and Budalin townships in the region.
The regime carried out an estimated 19 air raids on the region between last July and mid-February, according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy in Myanmar.
There were clashes in 16 townships during that period and at least 140 civilians were killed by junta forces, the institute reported in February.
The junta has torched at least 6,158 civilian homes in the 13 months since the coup, mostly in areas with heavy anti-regime resistance.
Sagaing Region suffered nearly 60 percent of the damage, according to the independent Data for Myanmar research group.
Residents fear the lack of internet access will limit their ability to avoid junta raids and find shelter after being attacked.
“It is very difficult for the displaced, especially children and old people, to find safety if we don’t get the news,” said a Taze resident.
He said they had previously asked for donations on Facebook but now they are left on their own.
The regime uses airstrikes, artillery and allied Phyu Saw Htee militias to attack villages and burn houses.
Source : The Irrawaddy / https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-denies-medical-treatment-to-prisoners-sick-with-covid-19.html
People sick with covid symptoms in Mandalay’s Obo Prison are being denied medical treatment, according to their relatives and people assisting political prisoners.
“Prisoners are only isolated when they are suspected of contracting covid. They are not given medical treatment. There might also be cases of seasonal flu because of a change in the weather. But from their symptoms, I guess they have covid,” said a person who is helping political prisoners.
Over 300 inmates including political prisoners are sick in Obo Prison and are displaying common covid symptoms such as sore throat, cough, aching muscles, runny nose and high fever, he said.
“There were suspected covid deaths in jails during the second wave of covid, but post-mortems were barely conducted to find out the causes of their deaths,” he added.
Some prison staff have also been infected with covid and they are also not receiving medical treatment despite serious symptoms, according to relatives of prison staff.
One prison staffer from Obo Prison who asked to remain anonymous said, “There are many people displaying covid symptoms [in Obo Prison]. Far from receiving covi tests, many are not even given paracetamol. There are also covid infections among staff families. But staff are not granted leave and therefore can’t isolate.”
Prisoners are also not getting proper food in prison, he added. “It is not bad for prisoners who are visited regularly by their relatives [who bring them food]. But things are difficult for those who have no visitors,” said the prison staffer.
One Mandalay lawyer said: “I heard people are sick with flu symptoms in prison. Court hearings of some political detainees have had to be postponed because they are ill.”
Prison authorities downplayed the situation when asked by The Irrawaddy about the reports of covid infections in Obo Prison, saying that there are no covid infections and that the cases are only "seasonal flu".
News (9) to (12) / Reporters : Li Mei and Ruili / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2022/03/07/a103366967.html
News (9)
More than 6 million covid deaths worldwide
On Monday (March 7), excluding mainland China, more than 446 million people were diagnosed and about 6 million died worldwide. Now that the CCP virus has swept the world for three years, experts say that the actual death toll in the world will increase by more than 20 million people from developing countries.
The covid epidemic has entered its third year. As of 7 March 2022, more than 6 million people worldwide have died from the epidemic.
News (10)
Expert: Developing countries are seriously under-reporting
However, a Singaporean scholar said that the actual death toll caused by the epidemic will be an additional 21 million, and that underreporting has occurred in developing countries.
Tikki Pang, professor of global health at the National University of Singapore, said, "This includes future deaths that go undiagnosed, people who die at home, (authorities) underreporting, underreporting or lack of testing, all in developing countries."
News (11)
Hong Kong uses freight containers to store the dead
Hong Kong added 25,000 new local diagnoses on Monday, a three-day decline that may be related to the fact that the rapid antigen test positive reporting system has not yet been opened. The Hong Kong government's Centre for Health Protection said the system was only operational until Monday night, and it was difficult to assess the cause of the decline.
In addition, including the number of supplementary reports, an additional 280 people died that day, mostly the elderly.
Hospital morgues were overwhelmed with the surge in deaths, and the bodies of the dead were urgently stored in makeshift refrigerated containers.
News (12)
At least 99,000 covid deaths in South Africa
South Africa has recorded more than 3.5 million infections and at least 99,000 deaths since the outbreak began.
South African Omar Hussen came to get his first dose of the vaccine after his brother died of covid. He believes that a normal life can be returned to after vaccination.
South African citizen Omar Hussen said, "Maybe those who have been vaccinated think, why do I still have all these social distancing rules, wearing masks, etc. We want to live our lives. We want to go back to our Life."
According to official South African figures, nearly 50% of the adult population is fully vaccinated.
Authorities have lifted most containment restrictions but masks are still mandatory and there are still limits on the number of people who can attend public gatherings.
News (13)
FDA publishes Pfizer vaccine data showing thousands of side effects
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released some data on Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine/Comirnaty in early March 2022, which showed that the vaccine has more than 1,000 side effects.
According to a court order, on 1 March 2022, the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, a subsidiary of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, released for the first time some data files of Pfizer’s vaccines, which mentioned that the side effects of Comirnaty are as high as 1291, including kidney injury, acute flaccid myelitis, brainstem embolism, cardiac arrest, hemorrhagic encephalitis, etc.
In addition, as of 28 February 2021, a total of 42,086 adverse reaction reports have been received worldwide after Comirnaty vaccination, of which 1,223 people died (2.9%) and 520 people recovered with sequelae (1.2%).
Mary Holland, president of the US "Children's Health Defense" agency, described the document as breaking news and believed that Comirnaty should be stopped immediately because the possibility of serious harm is very obvious, and the victims cannot sue Pfizer and claim damages.
The U.S. District Court ordered on 6 January 2022 that the FDA must publish about 400,000 pages of data documents related to Pfizer's vaccine within eight months, or 55,000 pages of documents per month. The FDA previously claimed that it would take 75 years before all documents were released.
Refs: https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2022/03/07/a103367180.html, https://expmx.com/2022/03/04/pfizer-docs-nine-pages-of-side-effects/?fbclid=IwAR09FeYTTEFDFj99ITlS0VTSvOz4EqTahwnil1qMzFXSSKogNzggtcSKzNE, https://expmx.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Pfizer-5.3.6-postmarketing-experience.pdf
News (14)
News (15)
Study: Even mild cases of covid can lead to brain changes
Reporter : Zachary Stieber, The Epoch Times PREMIUM
Mild COVID-19 cases were linked to changes in the brain, in a newly published study. COVID-19 (also novel coronavirus pneumonia, Wuhan pneumonia; covid, as synonym) is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2 (also novel coronavirus, Wuhan virus; covi, as synonym).
Approximately 785 people underwent a brain scan and about half later tested positive for covid. All the participants got a second brain scan, including those who had survived the disease.
Researchers from the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging at the University of Oxford analyzed the scans and found the participants infected with covid had a reduction in the thickness of gray matter—which helps humans perform various functions such as making decisions—and other negative outcomes.
“Despite the infection being mild for 96% of our participants, we saw a greater loss of grey matter volume, and greater tissue damage in the infected participants, on average 4.5 months after infection,” professor Gwenaëlle Douaud, the study’s lead author, said in a statement.
“They also showed greater decline in their mental abilities to perform complex tasks, and this mental worsening was partly related to these brain abnormalities. All these negative effects were more marked at older ages.”
The paper was published in Nature following peer review.
The scans were taken from the UK Biobank, a large-scale medical database that contains information on approximately 500,000 UK residents.
Those whose scans were analyzed were aged 51 to 81. The reason the study did not include younger people is that all participants in the scanning were 40 or older, Douaud told The Epoch Times in an email.
The scans were taken on average 38 months apart.
Researchers said the two cohorts—people who ended up getting infected and people who did not—were similar in terms of age, sex, and many risk factors.
Participants also engaged in cognitive tests, and the infected group was more likely to experience cognitive decline by the time of the second test.
The brain changes ranged from 0.2 to 2 percent additional change in the infected group.
Researchers described the study as the first in the world to compare images taken before covi infection with scans after infection.
The study was funded by a Wellcome Trust award.
Limitations of the research include the lack of stratification of severity of the cases beyond the detail of whether they needed hospital care and most participants being white. The study also didn’t account for vaccination status.
Researchers said that further study is needed to see whether the negative impact can be partially reversed and whether the effects would persist over longer periods of time.
News (16)
10% of Hong Kong police infected with Wuhan virus, hospitals stuff body bags under the beds of dying patients
Reporter : Jing Zhongming / Editor: Lin Qing / Image : On 26 February 2022, a patient infected with covid sits on an outdoor makeshift hospital bed at the Caritas Medical Center in Hong Kong. (Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)
The epidemic in Hong Kong is out of control, the death rate has soared, and the medical system that has always been leading the world has collapsed. The hospital corpses are nowhere to be put, and were stuffed under the beds of dying patients. The police system, which the authorities rely on for mandatory quarantines, also has one in 10 infected.
Hong Kong's daily death toll from the virus has remained above 100 for several days. On 6 March, 153 patients died in public hospitals, and with the corrected return, there were 233 new deaths on that day.
In the past week, the death rate in Hong Kong has tripled, making it the highest death rate in the developed world. As of 6 March 2022, the average number of deaths per million population was 25.5 in Hong Kong, 4.28 in the United States, 2.89 in South Korea, 1.86 in Singapore and 1.68 in Japan.
Under the impact of the epidemic, Hong Kong's once-proud medical system has collapsed for days.
Dr. Liang, who works in a public hospital in Hong Kong, has posted on Facebook for several days, recording the current tragic situation in the hospital.
He said that the current situation of public hospitals in Hong Kong is worse than that of third-class hospitals in India. The hospital receives hundreds of confirmed patients every day, most of whom are senior care deans. Many of them can only lie on foldable stretcher beds more than 10 cm above the ground. There are already about 100 people in the emergency room corridor alone, and hundreds more have been placed. In makeshift sites, "it's easy to step on them if you're not careful".
Dr. Liang reluctantly said that at one point, one-fifth of the medical staff in the department he worked for were on vacation, and the rest of the medical staff were exhausted. For the infected patients, there is not much medical care can do. They can only give oxygen, intravenous drugs, pain-relieving drugs, and antibiotics. "They (patients" are moaning or yelling in pain, but we have no time to look at them, they can only lie down and wait for their fate."
Dr. Liang described the current situation to the daughter of an elderly patient, "About 400 patients have been waiting for beds in the hospital for several days. The medical staff and patients are like the crew and passengers of the Titanic. The ship crashed into the iceberg. After that, everyone was struggling in the sea."
Dr. Liang said, "wrapping the remains has become our daily work. We will put body bags under the beds of the dying patients. I have experienced 2 hours of work and 5 patients died."
Dr. Liang told the Central News Agency that he could only watch the patient struggle to take his last breath, "It's also difficult for me to face it, but we don't have time to stop, and we don't have time to cry, because countless patients are pouring into the hospital, and we can only help the patients who are still alive continue to fight."
In the face of the soaring epidemic, the Hong Kong government is still implementing Beijing's "zero-Covid" policy and forcing the so-called "full testing". However, the Hong Kong police force, which relies on official compulsory quarantine, is also facing the dilemma of large-scale infections.
The number of frontline police officers who have to quarantine themselves or their family members due to the Wuhan virus has jumped from 300 nearly two weeks ago to more than 3,000, accounting for more than 10% of the entire police force. It is reported that the police are studying the establishment of rooms in the Pat Heung Juvenile Police Call Center and the Tung Tze Police Holiday Home for the isolation of confirmed police officers.
News (17) to (18) / Reporters : Li Mei and Chen Haiyue / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2022/03/08/a103368008.html
News (17)
HKU: Hong Kong has passed the peak of the covid epidemic
On Tuesday (8 March 2022), excluding mainland China, more than 448 million people around the world were diagnosed with the CCP virus, and more than 6 million people died. The fifth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong, the cumulative death toll has exceeded 2,000, and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong estimates that it has passed the peak of the epidemic.
The death toll in Hong Kong's fifth wave of the virus rose by 160 on 8 March 2022, bringing the total to more than 2,000. The local hospital mortuary ran out of space and had to use refrigerated containers to morgue.
There were 28,000 new confirmed cases on 8 March, and the rapid testing and reporting platform, which was launched at 6 p.m. the previous night, had received 14,715 valid reported cases as of midnight.
The Hong Kong government may implement a "foot-stop order", which will make the public feel a lot of pressure, and there will be a rush to buy food and medicine.
A Hong Konger said, "Because we are afraid of being trapped in a small place, we are still anxiously waiting for the government's answer (about mass testing)."
The Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong published the latest research on the fifth wave of the epidemic, predicting that the epidemic reached its peak on 4 March 2022.
News (18)
Florida advises healthy children not to get vaccinated
The U.S. state of Florida announced Monday that parents are not advised to vaccinate healthy children.
"Florida will be the first state to officially advise against vaccinating healthy children against Covid-19," Florida Health Secretary Radapo said.
Previously, according to a court order, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Review and Research disclosed for the first time 1,291 side effects of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine/Comirnaty, including kidney damage, brainstem embolism, cardiac arrest, and hemorrhagic encephalitis.
New York on 7 March 2022 lifted major containment measures, including a school mask order and a vaccine order.
At the same time, New York also lifted vaccination requirements for restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, giving store owners a sigh of relief.
News (19)
ByteDance employee diagnosed, ByteDance was closed and charged
Reporter : He Yating / Editor: Lin Qing / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2022/03/08/a103367937.html
The local covid epidemic broke out again in Chaoyang District and Haidian District of Beijing. An employee of TikTok parent company ByteDance was diagnosed with covid. The company headquarters in the tech park has been sealed off. Officials called on citizens to stay out of Beijing if it was not necessary in the near future. Coinciding with the "two sessions" of the CCP, the outside world is paying close attention to the trend of the epidemic in Beijing.
In the afternoon of March 8, local time, the Beijing Municipal Government held the 285th press conference on the prevention and control of the covid epidemic. It was reported at the meeting that from 12 am of 7 March to 4 pm of 8 March, there were 7 new confirmed cases of local covid in Beijing, including 3 in Haidian District and 4 in Chaoyang District.
Since the CCP official has been concealing the real situation of the domestic epidemic, the above-mentioned epidemic data reported by the Beijing Municipal Government has also made the outside world suspicious.
Of the seven confirmed cases officially announced on 7 March, three were in Haidian District. Before the onset of the disease, their movements involved multiple subway lines in Beijing, and one of them had gone to training outside Beijing. Chinese netizens speculated that this wave of epidemics may have formed community transmission in Beijing.
Among the above confirmed patients, a 28-year-old man surnamed Zhang is an employee of ByteDance Company, Building 2, Zhonghang Plaza, Zhongcunguan Science and Technology Park, Beijing. After the man was diagnosed, the Zhongcunguan Science and Technology Park has been closed since the 7th. People in the park can only enter but not exit, and companies in the park have stopped all activities.
Another confirmed patient is an employee on the 6th floor of Building F, Xiaomi Technology Park. In the early morning of the 8th, Xiaomi has received a notice from the Epidemic Prevention Center to stop the entry and exit of personnel and stop all activities.
After the confirmed cases were found in Beijing's Chaoyang District, Vanke Qingqing Home, Hope Art Education, Honey Country Children's Education and Growth Center and other related units have been temporarily controlled, and all relevant personnel have also been asked to "only enter but not".
It coincides with the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference being held in Beijing, and officials are particularly nervous about the epidemic in Beijing. The official has issued a notice on the 8th, requiring Beijing citizens to "not be in Beijing unless necessary" in the near future. The official also requires all personnel entering and returning to Beijing to undergo a nucleic acid test within 72 hours after arriving in Beijing on the basis of holding a negative nucleic acid test certificate within 48 hours and the Beijing Health Treasure Green Code.
News (20) to (22) / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2022/03/08/a103368006.html
News (20)
During the Two Sessions of the CCP, the local epidemic broke out again in Beijing
The CCP's two sessions are being held in Beijing, but the local outbreak of the CCP virus broke out again on March 7 in Beijing. Officially, 7 people have been diagnosed. But the real number of infected people is unknown.
According to the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 new local cases were confirmed in Beijing, including 3 in Haidian District and 4 in Chaoyang District. Two of the confirmed cases are employees of TikTok's parent company ByteDance and mobile phone maker Xiaomi. The company's headquarters has been closed.
However, on 8 March 2022, the Beijing Chaoyang District Center for Disease Control and Prevention also notified that two children who were treated at Tongzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital were tested covid-positive. They came from the same family and lived in Vanke Qingqing Home. At present, Qingqing Community has been closed for management. Personnel and vehicles are only allowed in and out, and there are staff guarding the entrance and gate of the community.
According to the National Health Commission of the Communist Party of China on the 8th, on the 7th, there were 175 new local confirmed cases and 330 asymptomatic infections in the mainland, involving Jilin, Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu, Gansu, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Hebei, Shanghai, Zhejiang , Tianjin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Shanxi, Guangxi and other 16 provinces and cities.
This is the second day in a row that the CCP reported 526 local infections, the second day in a row that the number of local infections exceeded 500.
However, whether these data are under-reported is widely doubted by the outside world.
News (21)
U.S. lawmakers introduce bill to investigate China's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine
On 7 March, U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bipartisan bill that would require the State Department to launch an investigation into Beijing to determine the extent to which China supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and whether it is assisting Russia in evading economic sanctions.
The bill, called the DICTATOR Act, is proposed by a team of House members including Rep. Young Kim, Republican of California, and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, Democrat of Michigan, along with 11 other House members.
"In today's world, anyone's liberty is threatened, and everyone's liberty is threatened," Kim said in a statement. "The Dictator Act will ensure that the United States sends a clear message to China and the CCP: Any assistance Russia's efforts to evade U.S. sanctions will not be tolerated and will come at a heavy price."
News (22)
Rabobank closes Beijing branch to accelerate evacuation
Rabobank recently closed its Beijing branch, ending nearly 30 years of financial operations in China.
According to the approval document issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission on 23 February 2022, Rabobank Beijing Branch will stop all business activities on the same day, and set up a liquidation team within 15 days.
In September 2021, ABN Amro, the largest multinational financial institution in the Netherlands, also closed its Shanghai branch.
ABN AMRO closed two branches in China within half a year, and the speed of withdrawal has attracted the attention of the industry. Some commentators believe that this shows that China's investment environment is deteriorating.
News (23)
Source : Daily Mail
A three year old girl in Jerusalem has come down as the first case of polio in the Middle East in over 30 years, local officials report.
The girl, who was unnamed by the Jerusalem District Health Bureau was not vaccinated against the virus, which has largely been defeated around the world due to widely available jabs.
It is the first Israeli case of the potentially debilitating virus since 1988. Officials have not yet determined the origin of the infection, or whether she has passed it on to anyone else.
The young girl's case was reported to local health authorities after she felt symptoms of paralysis, the Wall Street Journal reports.
A spokesman said that the case was likely vaccine-derived polio, which is a mutation of the strain used for the oral polio vaccine distributed across the world.
The young girl was not yet vaccinated. In Israel, children are recommended to get the vaccine as soon as they can, though the window of recommendation does not end until seven years old.
It has not been reported whether the girl's parents had plans to get her vaccinated in the future.
While this is the first confirmed case of polio in the country since 1988, the virus has been detected in wastewater, meaning that there has been some undetected spread.
Eradicating polio has been a challenge for health officials for decades, but their efforts have been a great success.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the virus has been around since 'ancient times', citing records that the ancient Egyptians were aware of the condition, and the paralysis that comes with it.
Prevalence of polio has greatly declined in recent decades after the emergence of the vaccine in the 1950s.
The World Health Organization has prioritized the eradication of polio, which at this point may not be possible.
The virus has reached an endemic phase in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, and while not as devastating as it was in previous years, its rapid spread makes it hard to control.
It often spreads through fecal matter contaminating water or other food or drink that goes into a person's mouth.
It can also spread via person-to-person contact.
In its most devastating cases, the polio virus will move into a person's central nervous system and cause paralysis.
News (24)
Poland ready to hand all its MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S.
Reporter : Rob Crilly, Daily Mail / https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10591379/Poland-gives-MIG-29-planes-hand-Ukraine.html / Image credit : MiG (Alamy Stock Photo)
The idea has been floating around for more than a week after Ukraine pleaded for more aircraft but the plan has been dogged by questions about how to deliver the planes to Ukrainian territory without dragging NATO into the conflict.
Tuesday's announcement will be seen as a Polish effort to force the U.S. and NATO to go further in backing the Ukrainian fight.
The authorities of the Republic of Poland, after consultations between the president and the government, are ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MIG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the government of the United States of America,' said the Polish foreign ministry.
Poland is believed to have 28 MiG-29s - a Soviet-era fighter flown by the Ukrainian air force - although not all are airworthy.
"At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities," it said.
U.S. officials say they are currently considering a proposal to send F-16s to Poland to "backfill" its air force, replacing the MiGs, but have also suggested caution is in order.
The Polish announcement appeared to take them unawares.
Victoria Nuland, State Department undersecretary, was asked about the decision when she appeared before a Senate committee to discuss Ukraine.
"I was in a meeting where I ought to have about that before I came so I think that actually was a surprise move by the Poles," she said.
Sources familiar with the issue said the problem was how to deliver the planes to Ukraine.
Russia has made clear that it will consider any use by Ukraine of neighboring country's territory as a justification for attack.
That means Ukrainian pilots taking off from Poland or Germany in the MiGs would cross a Russian red line.
Asking Polish pilots to fly them in would also be viewed by Russia as NATO entering the conflict.
"There were some logistical questions - important ones - that were still under discussion about where those planes would take off from and land," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when she was asked about the deal on Tuesday.
A day earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby played down progress on any moves to supply planes.
"I would just say again, we're very early on in a discussion here about a possibility. It's not even a done deal at this point," he said.
Hopes that the MiGs would offer an immediate breakthrough were further scotched by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki who said that the delivery of offensive weapons would have to be taken by all of NATO.
"This is why we are ready to give all of our fleet of jet fighters to Ramstein, but we are not ready to make any moves on our own because, as I said, we are not party to this war," he said during a joint news conference with his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo.
It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a 'desperate plea for aircraft to fight Russian invaders during a video call on Saturday with U.S. legislators, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
"These planes are very much needed. And I will do all I can to help the administration to facilitate their transfer," he said in a statement.
News (25)
Systems broadcasting radiation levels from Chernobyl stop sending signals, Ukrainian staff remain trapped
Reporter : David Averre, Daily Mail / https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10591545/Systems-broadcast-radiation-levels-Chernobyl-stop-sending-signals.html
Systems monitoring nuclear material at the radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl in Ukraine have stopped transmitting data to the UN's nuclear watchdog.
Russian forces surrounded and seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant last month on the first day of their invasion of Ukraine, and have since refused to let some 210 staff members leave the site.
"The Director General indicated that remote data transmission from safeguards monitoring systems installed at the Chernobyl NPP had been lost," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement today.
Safeguards refers to the field of IAEA work aimed at keeping track of nuclear material and waste products generated by nuclear power plants.
The IAEA urged Russian authorities to allow the 210 staff members who are being held captive at Chernobyl to leave, arguing that although radiation levels in the area are relatively low, it is necessary to ensure a 'safe rotation' of staff.
It comes after the Vienna-based UN body said Ukrainian authorities reported an attack on a nuclear facility in Kharkiv on Sunday - though no increase in radiation levels had been reported at the site.
News (26)
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