'Massive' Russian air attack hits Western Ukraine, Kyiv • FRANCE 24 English

Ukraine claimed Sunday (March 24) to have hit two Russian military ships stationed at the annexed peninsula of Crimea in overnight strikes, as it suffered another night of Russian aerial attacks. Ukraine's capital Kyiv and the western region of Lviv came under a "massive" Russian air attack, officials said, while Poland said one of the Russian missiles breached its airspace.

Poland: Elections in a time of broken media

 

A battered media sphere, anti-immigration rhetoric and euroscepticism: What’s at stake in Polish parliamentary elections. Plus, Russia’s war on Ukrainian culture.

With a week to go until elections in Poland, the ruling Law and Justice Party has used its control of the public broadcaster to drown out opposition voices and push its anti-European Union, anti-migrant messaging.

Germany sees rising migration at Polish border

Regional lawmakers in Germany are calling on the government to get a grip on what they call uncontrolled irregular migration. So far this year more than 14-thousand people entered Germany illegally via the border with Poland. Local authorities say reception centers cannot cope with the pressure.

The Holocaust and the Politics of Memory

 

It’s been nearly 80 years since the end of World War II. Johanna Hoes examines the fragility of historical memory and a rise in Holocaust revisionism in Europe.

Politicians have long had a tendency to frame the past in a way that suits their political agenda in the present and the Holocaust is no different.

In this special episode of The Listening Post, Johanna Hoes reports on historical revisionism in Poland; the governing right-wing Law and Justice party’s attempts to portray all Polish people as heroes or victims while concealing an uncomfortable truth: that some Poles collaborated with the Nazis and were complicit in crimes against Jews.

How Russia could cut NATO off from the Baltic states | DW News

 

The Suwalki gap is a narrow strip of land stretching between Poland and Lithuania. If Russia and Belarus were to successfully invade and close it, the Baltic NATO-trio of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia would be cut off from its allies to the south.

Poland’s PM: Wagner's presence in Belarus a growing threat to Poland and NATO

Poland's military is redeploying more units closer to its border with Belarus. That's after reports of Russia's Wagner mercenary group training Belarusian soldiers in the area. People in Poland near the border said they could hear shooting and helicopters. Warsaw had already sent additional forces to boost security at the border with Belarus earlier month.

 

Putin claims without evidence that Poland is seeking to invade Belarus

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will use 'all means at its disposal' to defend Belarus after claiming without evidence that Poland was seeking to invade the Russian ally. Poland and other EU countries have expressed concern over training sessions held by the Wagner group for Belarusian troops in western Belarus, near the border with Poland. On Friday, Poland’s security committee said it would move troops toward the east in response to the deployment of the Russian paramilitaries near their border. Speaking during a Kremlin security council meeting on Friday, the Russian president said Poland was 'dreaming of Belarusian lands' and 'unleashing aggression against Belarus would mean aggression against the Russian Federation'.

How a small city in Poland gained global significance | Focus on Europe

 The Polish city of Rzeszow, located in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin, is gaining global prominence. Due to its proximity to the Ukrainian frontline, American soldiers have now been stationed there.

Germany approves request to send Polish jets to Ukraine within a day

 

Poland's formal request to Germany for permission to send five Cold War-era MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine has been given the green light, the German Defense Ministry confirmed on Thursday. According to German rules, the weapons that it sells require approval from Berlin if the receiving country wants to send them on to a third country.

Germany won’t block Poland sending tanks to Ukraine says country’s foreign minister

Germany's foreign minister Anna Baerbock has said she "would not stand in the way" of Poland if they were to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.  Ukraine has called on the West to provide the German-made tanks which they say will help them defeat Russia.  But Germany is yet to provide the armoured vehicles, and its export laws prevent other countries from sending theirs. 

Poland missile strike: beware of images on Twitter unrelated to the blast • FRANCE 24 English

Some users on social media are sharing images that show debris of the alleged S-300 air defence missile that killed two people in Poland this Tuesday. One of the images being shared is actually from projectile remains found in Dagestan in October 2020.

 

Why is Russia agreeing to a declaration condemning its own war in Ukraine? |

The missile blast in Poland also sparked concern at the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. The leaders gathered there urged a thorough investigation into the incident. The group of 20 leading economies ended their summit on Wednesday with a joint declaration saying that most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine.

NATO investigates reported Russian missiles in Poland

 

Russian missile strikes have crossed into Poland, killing two people, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported on Tuesday. Polish media reported that two people died Tuesday afternoon after a projectile struck Przewodow, a Polish village near the border with Ukraine. A NATO official told DW's Teri Schultz in Brussels that officials were looking into the reports and consulting closely with Poland.

Russia-Ukraine war live: two people killed after Russian missiles cross into Poland, says US intelligence official

 

Poland PM convenes urgent national security meeting as a senior US intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into Nato member Poland

Léonie Chao-Fong (now); Martin Belam and Samantha Lock (earlier)

Müller did not mention what the committee was due to discuss but local media reported that the meeting may be related to a reported explosion on the Polish border with Ukraine.

Russia shelled cities and energy facilities across Ukraine on Tuesday, including Lviv, a city in the west of the country close to Poland.

Two people have been killed in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, according to local firefighters.

Reuters has cited Lukasz Kucy, an officer on duty at a nearby firefighters’ post, as saying:

Firefighters are on the spot, it’s not clear what has happened.

It was reported earlier that two stray missiles hit Przewodow, killing two people.

From the New York Times

A deadly explosion took place Tuesday at a grain processing facility in Poland near the border with Ukraine, according to Polish media outlets, and top government officials called an emergency meeting.

The cause of the explosion in the village of Przewodow, about four miles north of the Ukrainian border, was not immediately clear. A Polish radio station reported that two people were killed.

At a Pentagon briefing, Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder said the Defense Department was aware of media reports saying that two Russian missiles had landed in Poland, but said U.S. defense officials had no corroborating information.

Poland’s prime minister and president convened a meeting of the National Security Council in response to a “crisis situation,” a government spokesman, Piotr Mueller, told reporters.

The explosions came on the same day that Russia launched a widespread missile attack on Ukraine, with roughly 100 missiles that were aimed primarily at the country’s electrical infrastructure. Ukrainian officials said the country’s air defense systems shot down 70 of the incoming missiles.

Poland's abortion ban lands woman in court | Focus on Europe

 

Justyna Wydrzynska faces three years in prison for sharing abortion pills with a pregnant woman in Poland. The state is cracking down ever harder on women who are resisting Poland's restrictive anti-abortion laws.

How does Poland view the war in Ukraine?

 Warsaw has established itself as the linchpin of Western involvement in the war.

Three months into the fighting in Ukraine, Poland has established itself as the main conduit of weapons and aid from the West to Ukraine. It has also absorbed the highest number of Ukrainian refugees, 3.4 million people. And it is working to end its energy dependency on Russia within months.

Russian leaders have warned Poland – which joined NATO in 1999, several years before it joined the European Union – against taking such a strident role against Moscow.

Could the Ukraine war spill over into Poland?

 

Russia has warned Poland to stay out of the war in Ukraine.

The impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rippled through neighbouring countries, most of which are members of the NATO military alliance.

Poland has become vital in the Western effort to defend Ukraine and has also welcomed more than two million refugees, but some Russian attacks have taken place close to its border.

'It's our duty': the Ukrainians returning to their country to fight and help

Nearly 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine to Poland, where a massive humanitarian aid effort is under way. But some people are going the other way, returning to Ukraine with aid, to collect family members or to fight. We spent a day meeting those queueing to cross back into Ukraine, unsure what they will find there 

 

Russia attacks military base in western Ukraine, reportedly killing 35, injuring 134 | DW News

 

An area outside the major western Ukrainian city of Lviv was targeted by a missile attack early Sunday. Eight missiles are believed to have been fired at Ukraine's Center for International Peacekeeping and Security, according to Lviv's Regional Military Administration on Telegram.

‘I Must Save My Mom’: Ukrainian Women Return to Defend Homes and Families | Russia-Ukraine War

 As millions seek to escape Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 200,000 people have gone the other way, toward the fighting. Many are women, risking the dangers of war to rescue relatives or defend their homes.