Blinken: "The transfer of F-16 jets is underway." Meanwhile, Poland must prepare the army for a full-scale conflict, army chief of staff General Wieslaw Kukula says at a press conference.

A Majority of U.S. Military Bases under United States European Command (EUCOM) in Spain, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania have now been placed on Heightened Alert, with their Force Protection Condition (FPCON) being raised to Charlie, the Reason is still Unknown. 🔶️ A FPCON Change like this for U.S. European Command, besides during Exercises, hasn’t occurred in 10-15 Years.

Poland armed forces claim the country’s airspace violated by Russian cruise missile The #Polish Armed Forces reported a violation of the country's airspace on the border with #Ukraine early in the morning of March 24 and claim that it is a #Russian cruise missile. At this time, No evidence was provided for these statements. "We inform you that on March 24 at 04:23 a.m. (03:23 a.m. GMT) a cruise missile violated Polish airspace," the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said on its page in the social network X. According to the command, the object flew into the Polish airspace near the village of Ocerdow in the Lublin province on the border with Ukraine and left it after 39 seconds. The command claims that it was a missile launched by the "Russian long-range aviation." In this regard, Poland put their fighters on alert.

EU countries unable to come to terms on further weapons supplies to Ukraine Leaders of European countries meeting at a Brussels summit cannot agree on the terms for further financing of arms supplies to Ukraine, the European edition of Politico said in an article. According to Politico, the only consensus that has been reached among the EU heads of state and government on Thursday, namely instructing the European Investment Bank (EIB) to adapt its lending policies for the needs of the defense industry, is evidence that the bloc’s members are unable to come to terms. "Let's be honest: Nothing real is decided on financing defense," a European official told Politico. The authoritative publication notes that the bloc’s countries are divided in their opinions on some profoundly important measures, in particular support for European financing of weapons supplies to Ukraine via joint defense obligations. Poland, France and Estonia favor the release of Eurobonds, while Austria, Germany and the Netherlands oppose it. According to some European diplomats, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and acting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated their disagreement with this proposal during the summit. A regular two-day EU summit in Brussels kicked off on Thursday. Within this event, the EU leaders intend to discuss the urgent and intense need for additional military support for Kiev. European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen, following the meeting, said that the EU did not decide to float defense Eurobonds for financing and reinforcing the EU defense industry. The final statement notes that the EU leaders did not agree on any decision to expropriate investment income earned on Russia’s frozen sovereign assets held at European financial institutions. The relevant ministers were instructed to continue working on the proposals made by the EC and EU diplomatic department.

Macron says Paris, Berlin, Warsaw agree not to be first to escalate tensions in Ukraine #Germany, #Poland and #France have agreed that they will never be the first to escalate the conflict in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron announced following a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "We will continue the policy we have followed since day one: never to be the initiators of any escalation in Ukraine," Macron said in a speech that was webcast on the X account of the Elysee Palace. The French president said that the three countries, known as the Weimar Triangle, plan to continue supporting Ukraine "for as long as it takes." He also said that Paris, Berlin and Warsaw support Prague's initiative to buy weapons for Kiev in third countries as the EU can’t produce enough. In other remarks, Macron confirmed plans to create a coalition to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles. He said the leaders also agreed to support Moldova.

Russian forces eliminated 147 French mercenaries in Ukraine, Defense Ministry says The Russian armed forces eliminated 147 out of 256 #French #mercenaries that arrived in Ukraine during the special military operation, the Russian Defense Ministry said on its Telegram channel. Overall, the Russian forces eliminated 5,962 foreign mercenaries, most of them from Poland: out of 2,960, 1,497 were eliminated, the Defense Ministry reported. According to the provided statistics, Georgia occupies the second place in terms of eliminated mercenaries (561 militants eliminated out of 1,042). Out of the 1,113 mercenaries from the US, 491 were eliminated, as well as 422 out of the 1,005 Canadian mercenaries and 360 out of the 822 mercenaries that arrived from the UK. In January, Russian Ambassador to Paris Alexey Meshkov relayed the Russian State Duma’s address to the National Assembly of France regarding the French mercenaries in Ukraine. The Russian lawmakers pointed out that, despite Paris’ claims, the objective information regarding the membership of Ukrainian neo-Nazi forces reliably indicates that French mercenaries take part in the conflict. Previously, the Russian Defense Ministry said that, on January 16, the Russian Armed Forces carried out a precision strike on the temporary deployment location of foreign mercenaries in Kharkov, with the French comprising the majority of the mercenaries. The strike resulted in over 60 militants eliminated and over 20 injured. After that, French Ambassador to Moscow Pierre Levy was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry; he was told that the death of the French lies entirely with the official Paris.

Kremlin says France’s line of forming coalition to send troops to Ukraine very dangerous #Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called #France’s line of forming a coalition of countries ready to send troops to #Ukraine very dangerous. "In general, the expansion of the discussion and the persistent activity of Paris in attempts to build a coalition of countries that declare a hypothetical readiness to send a certain contingent, of course, is nothing but a direct line to escalate tensions. This is a dangerous line, very dangerous," the spokesman told reporters. Peskov pointed out that this line "could potentially have very undesirable consequences." "We are watching this very carefully," he emphasized. Earlier, Polish Foreign Minister #Radoslaw Sikorski said during a conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Poland's #NATO membership that NATO military personnel are already in Ukraine. At the same time, Sikorski did not clarify which countries' soldiers he was referring to.

#Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski said that some #NATO countries have already sent their military to #Ukraine . #Sikorsky spoke about this during a speech on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to NATO. “Unlike other politicians, I will not list these countries,” the diplomat said, obviously hinting at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who earlier spoke about the presence of British and French instructors in Ukraine. Following this statement, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto criticized France and Poland for speaking about the possibility of sending NATO troops to Ukraine, since these two countries cannot speak on behalf of the entire alliance, and sending troops would be a step towards unilateral escalation.

French President Emmanuel #Macron announced the upcoming establishment of a permanent military mission in #Chisinau in the following months. Macron stated that the mission aims to enhance the interoperability of the French and Moldovan armies. Additionally, the French intend to combat disinformation and cyber attacks to safeguard the republic's sovereignty. It is worth noting that in Moldova, the EU's so-called "civilian mission" pursues similar objectives. It is important to mention that presidential elections are scheduled for the fall, during which European supervisors may influence the outcome in favor of Maia Sandu directly on location. ▪️ The official justification for deploying the French military in Moldova stemmed from Sandu's recent remarks in Paris accusing Russian special services of attempting another coup in the republic and perpetuating support for disinformation campaigns. ▪️ However, Macron himself announced the day before that France would dispatch troops to so-called Ukraine if the conflict expanded toward Kyiv and Odessa. Therefore, the French deployment in Moldova is part of preparations for a potential involvement in Transnistria and the Odessa region. ▪️ Furthermore, France is actively working on deploying air defense systems in Poland and Romania. In Moldova, there are persistent calls for integration into the Romanian air defense system. Meanwhile, Chisinau has procured an air defense radar from the French Thales company, whose effectiveness has recently come into question as reported here. ▪️ The French are also exploring the option of sending troops to western Ukraine for logistical and mine clearance support. Similar objectives may formally be announced in Moldova, given that military transit occurs through the region as well. 📌The concerns of the Moldovan population regarding a potential military escalation are proving to be valid sooner than anticipated, as Sandu's efforts to involve the country in the conflict are entering a distinct phase. This scenario unfolds when a nation places itself under the influence of the British and American embassies.

In #Poland, #NATO exercises Dragon 24 are in full swing, which are part of the large-scale maneuvers of the Steadfast Defender 24 alliance. As part of one of the events, the bloc countries practiced crossing the Vistula. The training itself took place near the small settlement of Korzheny in the north of the country. During these three days, participants from the U.S.A., Germany, France, Poland and other countries transported 3.5 thousand military personnel and hundreds of armored vehicles. The sight of Leopards, Abrams, Leclercs and Boxers standing side by side will surely resonate with the Russian audience. Both the crossing near Belogorovka and similar attempts by the AFU indicate that arranging equipment in semi-ceremonial formation, to put it mildly, is not the best option given the current capabilities of reconnaissance and fire strike. However, at such events, among other things, organizational issues and interaction in managing a multinational group are worked out. All this is happening as part of the general strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank, and there are plenty of the same large rivers in potential conflict zones.