the Guardian Warplanes scrambled after warning from Ukraine; Poland to seal border over Russian and Belarus’s ‘very aggressive’ Zapad war games. What we know on day 1,295
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Warplanes were scrambled early on Wednesday after Ukraine’s air force warned that Russian drones had entered Nato-member Poland’s airspace. “Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” Poland’s operational command said. The Ukrainian air force said drones were heading west and threatening the city of Zamosc in Poland. Ukrainian media reported that one was heading towards the western Polish city of Rzeszow, and said airports were being temporarily closed.
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Poland will close its border with Belarus on Thursday as a result of the “very aggressive” Zapad military exercises taking place in Belarus involving Russia, Donald Tusk has announced. The Polish prime minister said it was also a response to a growing number of provocations from Russia and Belarus. Separately, Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, warned that “we do not trust Vladimir Putin’s good intentions.” Nawrocki continued: “While waiting, of course, for a long-term peace, permanent peace, which is necessary to our regions, we believe that Vladimir Putin is ready to also invade other countries.”
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The US Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal challenged Congress and Donald Trump to adopt a bipartisan bill imposing “scorching” secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil like China, India and Brazil. The long-proposed bill is co-sponsored by Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator. “I believe the president should be supportive,” Blumenthal told NPR on Tuesday. “The time has come for action. The president’s been mocked and played by Putin, and I think the president ought to be furious that Putin has stalled and stonewalled in this way. And about this bill, there are 85 co-sponsors, evenly divided – Democrat and Republican – which I think shows the level of support in the Congress for these kinds of sanctions.”
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Trump said on Sunday he was ready to impose further sanctions targeting Russia, but appears now to be stipulating that the EU must do so at the same time. The EU has already enacted 18 rounds of sanctions and is preparing a 19th round, which it has said should include more secondary sanctions targeting countries helping Moscow. A US official told Agence France-Presse that on Tuesday Trump raised with European representatives the possibility of tariffs of between 50% and 100% on Russian oil customers.
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