A third Polish citizen passed away in a hospital in Dnipro yesterday, joining an additional two volunteers killed this week fighting in Ukraine.
Cabinet Minister Michał Dworczyk made the announcement on Saturday, saying in a tweet that the death of the volunteer marked a “tragic week” in which “a total of three of our compatriots fighting on the side of Ukraine have been killed.”
Lekko ranny wolontariusz dotarł do 🇵🇱. Wolontariusz ciężko ranny został przewieziony z Dniepru do Kijowa. Niestety to nie jest dobry czas. Dziś zginął kolejny żołnierz 🇺🇦-obywatel 🇵🇱, a dwóch kilka dni temu rannych wciąż jest w stanie poważnym. Wielkie dzięki @ZPHM_PL 🇵🇱🤝🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/AEVDLwqiZH
— Michał Dworczyk (@michaldworczyk) March 24, 2023
Earlier on Friday, Dworczyk announced that another Ukrainian soldier, a Polish citizen, had also been killed, while two other wounded volunteers remained in serious condition.
On a more uplifting note, one Polish volunteer hospitalized with injuries after a Russian shell hit their humanitarian vehicle has reportedly improved enough to “soon… be transferred back to the country through Lviv,” wrote Dworczyk.
On Friday, the Russian military reportedly shelled 119 towns with various weapons, killing 16 civilians, and injuring 59 more.
Today marks day 396 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, Polskie Radio
Russia has concluded an agreement with Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its neighbor’s territory, President Vladimir Putin announced on Saturday.
Putin told state television that Belarus will have a storage facility for Russian nuclear weapons ready by July 1, adding that the move would not violate Moscow’s non-proliferation obligations.
According to the Reuters news agency, the placement would mark the first time since the mid-1990s that Moscow will have deployed such weapons outside of Russia.
US and NATO officials reacted cautiously to Putin’s announcement, with one senior US administration official claiming that Russia and Belarus had been discussing the arrangement for a year and saying there were no indications that Moscow intended to use its nuclear weapons.
The US Department of Defense said in a written statement that it “will continue to monitor the situation,” adding that US officials “have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture nor any indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon. We remain committed to the collective defense of the NATO alliance.”
Source: Polskie Radio
Residents of the European Union moved all their clocks and devices an hour forward this morning after daylight savings time took effect last night.
European Union law requires all member countries to observe daylight savings time by moving clocks forward by an hour on the last Sunday of March and back by an hour on the last Sunday of October. Most digital devices adjusted automatically after skipping from 2:00-3:00 early this morning.
The European Parliament in 2019 voted in favor of abandoning the shift to daylight savings time but left the decision up to national governments on whether to stay on permanent summer or winter time. In 2021, the European Commission recommended that EU member states continue the current regulations on time changes until 2026.
A study cited by the Polish Press Agency showed an overwhelming majority of Poles (78.3 percent) in favor of abandoning the current system, with 74 percent of respondents voting to keep permanent summer time all year round.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, Polskie Radio
Despite the absence of Dawid Kubacki, Poland’s ski-jumping team took the bronze at the World Cup team competition yesterday in the city of Lahti, Finland.
The Polish squad, comprised of Piotr Żyła, Paweł Wąsek, Aleksander Zniszczoł, and Kamil Stoch, finished 8.8 points behind silver-medal winners Slovenia, while Austria, led by frontrunner Stefan Kraft, took the gold.
Dawid Kubacki, who was second in the overall FIS 2022/2023 World Cup standings only a few short weeks ago, ended his season early after his wife was hospitalized with severe cardiac problems. In a post yesterday on social media, Kubacki said his wife Marta “is stable, and each day brings some progress.”
The FIS ski jumping World Cup competition continues today with individual competitions, with Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud and Slovenia’s Anze Lanisek heavily favored to join Kraft on the podium.
Source: Polskie Radio, fis-ski.com, wyborcza.pl
Weather
Today will be mostly cloudy, with a good chance of rain showers in the morning before clearing off in the late afternoon with a gentle breeze coming in from the west. Temperatures will remain on the chilly side, reaching a high of 8°C or 47°F during the day before dropping to a low of 2°C or 35°F overnight. Colder temperatures are expected for tomorrow, with a good chance for rain or even snow in the early morning and afternoon.
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