Poland May Transfer MiG29 Jets in Coming Weeks

(Bloomberg) – Poland could send its Soviet-era MiG-29 jets to Ukraine in four to six weeks, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference in Warsaw on Tuesday, without elaborating.

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According to a report by Interfax, Russia’s Treasury Ministry proposed issuing “patriotic” bonds to prop up the country’s financial markets amid sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.

Rheinmetall AG, Germany’s largest ammunitions maker, said Europe’s defense industry could not meet Ukraine’s artillery ammunition needs unless nations increased spending to double production capacity.

Important Developments

• Most Russian oil is still sold outside the G-7 price cap, the Treasury says

• Wheat whips amid conflicting signals to extend grain trade

• Xi is relaunching the statesman image to face the US on the world stage

• DeSantis attacks US policy in Ukraine and breaks with much of the GOP

(All times CET)

Poland allowed to deploy fighter jets to Ukraine (1:30 p.m.)

Morawiecki said Poland could send its MiG29s to Kiev soon, but it remains unclear whether Warsaw has made a final decision. If Poland decides to support Ukraine’s air force with Soviet-era fighter jets, it would become the first NATO country to offer such planes.

Poland says Ukraine should get fighter jets sooner or later

Ukraine and a NATO Member State Expand Shell Production (1:15 p.m.)

State-owned Ukroboronprom said it had started manufacturing 125mm shells for tanks and had already delivered the first shipment to the front, the company said via Telegram.

It is the second type of grenade made in cooperation with a NATO member country that has not been identified for security reasons. Production is outside of Ukraine, but Ukrainian designers and experts are involved in the process.

The story goes on

Most Russian Oil Is Sold Outside G-7 Priuce Cap, US Says (1pm)

Most of Russia’s sea oil is still being sold outside the price cap imposed by the Group of Seven nations late last year, according to comments a US Treasury Department official is due to make in Washington on Tuesday.

“Approximately 75% of Russian sea oil trade occurs outside the price cap,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Ben Harris is expected to say, according to a copy of his statements seen by Bloomberg, citing a report he has not identified. “This means that no Western services are involved in the transaction and therefore these deals do not violate or evade sanctions.”

Russia’s Shoigu orders doubled production of high-precision missiles (12:47 p.m.)

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has urged a major state-owned maker of high-precision missiles to double production of the weapons, which are in short supply as the war enters its second year.

“You can do it,” Shoigu told managers in television commentary during a visit to Tactical Missile Corp. “The only task is to increase labor productivity.”

According to US and European intelligence estimates, Russia suffers from chronic shortages of many of its most advanced weapons, particularly high-precision missiles, given their heavy use in the war in Ukraine.

Russia weighs ‘patriotic’ bonds as war costs rise, Interfax says (11:40)

Interfax said the tentative idea is one of several items in a plan the ministry has proposed to the government to help ensure Russia’s “financial sovereignty.” Interfax did not give details.

Foreign investors have all but disappeared from Russia’s bond market since the US and its allies imposed sweeping sanctions on the country for last year’s invasion. The budget deficit widens as spending increases. The government suspended retail bond issues shortly after the invasion; Demand has always been limited.

Lithuania designates the Wagner group as a terrorist organization (11:17 am)

In a resolution, lawmakers also unanimously condemned the use of mercenary groups created under Russian auspices to commit aggression crimes in Ukraine. Lithuania urged other countries to join in labeling Wagner a terrorist group.

Ukraine, Russia Offer Conflicting Signals to Extend Grains Deal (9:54 am)

A spokesman for Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said there was no update on the grain deal just yet, citing a Twitter post Monday as its latest official position on the matter.

This was followed by a TASS report in which Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin had confirmed the deal’s extension by 60 days, without giving further details.

That would be half the length of the previous two terms of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July and extended in November. The deal has significantly boosted Ukraine’s grain exports and helped bring down global food prices. The current run is scheduled to end on March 18th.

Russian missile hits Kramatorsk (9:12 a.m.)

One person was killed and at least three others injured when a Russian missile hit and damaged six apartment buildings on Tuesday morning, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.

Russian airstrikes in the Donetsk region also occurred overnight, killing two people, injuring nine and damaging dozens of residential buildings.

Europe must double shell production for Ukraine, says Rheinmetall (08:59)

“I need orders. I don’t produce anything without orders,” said Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger in an interview. “Any shortage of ammunition will not be the fault of the defense industry. The industry can supply what is needed.”

Slow progress in completing orders means Rheinmetall will produce shells with about two-thirds capacity this year, Papperger said. And this despite repeated warnings from Ukrainian and European officials that an adequate supply of artillery ammunition will prove to be a crucial factor in the ongoing war.

Read more: Rheinmetall says Europe must double Shell production for Ukraine

Russia Keeps Trying to Capture Bakhmut, Ukraine Says (7:59 am)

Russian troops are not giving up attempts to take the besieged city of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook.

According to the Post, there have been more than 100 Russian attacks along the main offensive axes in the country’s eastern regions, while Russian troops have shelled dozens of villages and towns with artillery and rockets in other areas along the front lines.

DeSantis Attacks US Policy in Ukraine (5:35 am)

DeSantis expressed strong concerns about US support for Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion, breaking not only with the Biden administration but with other prominent Republicans as well.

Florida Gov. DeSantis, in a statement read by Tucker Carlson on his Fox News program, said protecting the US southern border, confronting China and strengthening the US military should be priorities.

“The Biden administration’s virtual ‘blank check’ funding of this conflict ‘for as long as necessary’ without defined goals or accountability is a distraction from our country’s most pressing challenges,” DeSantis added in the statement, which was endorsed by his spokeswoman.

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