The Polish government is set to send four Mig-29 jets to Ukraine – the first country to send jet fighters to Ukraine in support of its fight against Russia’s invasion of the country. Poland’s president Andrzej Duda made the announcement in Warsaw on yesterday.

The Polish president explained: „We have a dozen or so MiGs that we got in the 1990s handed down from the German Democratic Republic and they are functional and play a part in the defence of our airspace. They are at the end of their operational lives but are still functional”. Duda stressed that Ukrainian pilots were familiar with MiG-29 jets and would be able to operate them „immediately, without any additional training”. He also said that Poland would replace its fleet of Soviet-designed jets with new FA-50 aircraft from South Korea, the first of which are expected to arrive by the end of the year, followed by squadrons of US-made F-35 aircraft.

Source – Polskie Radio

Poland’s finance minister has said he is confident that the current record-breaking inflation being experienced by the country will fall to single digit figures by the end of the year. Polish inflation reached 18.4% in February this year, the highest level since December 1996 – a 26 year high.

The prices of food, transport and energy have been the biggest contributors to inflation in the country.

Source – Polskie Radio

Polish football club Lech Poznań have qualified for the quarterfinals of the Europa League Cup after eliminating Swedish side Djurgårdens IF. Lech on Thursday beat the Swedish team 3-0 away in the second leg of their Europa Conference League round-of-16 clash.

The draw for the Europa Conference League quarterfinals will take place in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday. The Polish side reached the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League after finishing runner-up in its Europa Conference League group in November. Lech in May last year won the Polish premier league championship for the eighth time.

Source – Polskie Radio

The man who was apprehended for the murder of Gdańsk mayor Paweł Adamowicz on stage in Gdańsk during the final concert of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity in January 2019 has been convicted of the crime and has been sentenced to 40 years in prison before he will be eligible for parole.

In an important ruling, the murder of the mayor was ruled not to be politically motivated. The man convicted of the crime has also been named for the first time as Stefan Wilmont. Wilmont was also fined 10,000 zloty for threatening the stage announcer during the incident when he demanded to be given a microphone to address the crowd.

Source – Radio Gdańsk

Weather

Today will be a sunny day in a moderate breeze with temperatures of 8 degrees centigrade (46 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and 1 degree overnight. Tomorrow will remain sunny with scattered clouds and temperatures of 9 degrees during the day and 1 degree overnight.

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Martin Caren/MarWer