In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives a speech at an expanded meeting of the Russian Defence Ministry Board at the National Defence Control Centre in Moscow on December 16, 2024. Grigory Sysoyev, AFP/File

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives a speech at an expanded meeting of the Russian Defence Ministry Board at the National Defence Control Centre in Moscow on December 16, 2024. (Photo by Grigory SYSOYEV / POOL / AFP)

RUSSIA

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1736953876797AFP__20241216__36QH7BF__v1__Preview__RussiaPoliticsDefence.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia&#x27;s President Vladimir Putin gives a speech at an expanded meeting of the Russian Defence Ministry Board at the National Defence Control Centre in Moscow on December 16, 2024. Grigory Sysoyev, AFP/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia&#x27;s President Vladimir Putin gives a speech at an expanded meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry Board at the National Defense Control Centre in Moscow on December 16, 2024. <em>Grigory Sysoyev, AFP/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>WARSAW, Poland -- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday Russia had planned acts of &quot;air terror&quot; against airlines worldwide, accusing Moscow of staging sabotage and diversion on Polish soil and beyond.</p><p>He made the declaration while hosting neighboring Ukraine&#x27;s President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks in Warsaw, just days before US president-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated.</p><p>EU and NATO member Poland has been one of Ukraine&#x27;s biggest allies since Russia launched a war against Kyiv in February 2022.</p><p>&quot;Poland plays a key role in Europe in countering the acts of sabotage and diversion that Russia is organizing, and not just on Polish territory,&quot; Tusk told reporters.</p><p>He said some of the acts were &quot;very dramatic&quot;.</p><p>&quot;All I can say, and I will not go into details, but I can confirm the validity of these fears, is that Russia had planned acts of air terror, and not only against Poland, but against airlines all over the world,&quot; he added.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2024/12/29/azerbaijan-says-russia-shot-at-plane-before-crash-demands-it-admit-0018">READ: Azerbaijan says Russia shot at plane before crash, demands it admit</a></div><p>In November, Lithuania carried out arrests as part of a criminal probe into sending incendiary devices on Western-bound planes.</p><p>According to Polish and Lithuanian media, the devices, including electric massagers implanted with a flammable substance, were sent from Lithuania to Britain in July and could be behind a lorry fire outside Warsaw.</p><p>The Lithuanian president&#x27;s chief security advisor said Moscow was behind the incidents.</p><p>UK anti-terrorism police in October said they were investigating how a parcel burst into flames at a depot earlier this year, after a similar case in Germany blamed on Russia.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2024/12/26/38-people-killed-in-azerbaijan-airlines-plane-crash-1257">READ: 38 people killed in Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash</a></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Problem to resolve&#x27; -</strong></div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABTGdvMgCMjGyCUs&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script><p>Tusk added Wednesday that Poland, which currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union, will speed up Ukraine&#x27;s process to join the bloc.</p><p>&quot;The Polish presidency will break the impasse that has been evident in recent months,&quot; Tusk said.</p><p>&quot;And we will work together with Ukraine and our European partners... to speed up the accession process as much as possible,&quot; he added.</p><p>Zelensky told reporters that &quot;the sooner Ukraine is in the EU, the sooner Ukraine becomes a member of NATO... the sooner the whole of Europe will get the geopolitical certainty it needs&quot;.</p><p>The Ukrainian president has been holding a flurry of meetings with his country&#x27;s backers ahead of Trump&#x27;s return to the White House.</p><p>The Republican has promised to bring a swift end to the fighting when he enters office next week, raising fears in Ukraine that it will be forced to make major territorial concessions in exchange for peace.</p><p>Tusk and Zelensky also spoke on resolving a decades-long dispute over the World War II Volyn killings of Poles in what is now Western Ukraine.</p><p>Tusk, whose ruling pro-EU alliance faces a presidential election in May, is under pressure from the national conservatives at home to secure exhumations of victims of the massacre.</p><p>On Friday, Tusk had hailed &quot;a decision on the first exhumations of Polish victims&quot; but both Kyiv and Warsaw remained tight-lipped on details of what had been agreed.</p><p>&quot;There is a pretty obvious problem to resolve, which is the need of Polish families to bury their loved ones with dignity,&quot; Tusk said alongside Zelensky on Wednesday.</p><p>&quot;The fact that we (Poland and Ukraine) understand each other on the matter and are beginning to talk normally and have taken action, yes, that constitutes a breakthrough,&quot; he added.</p><p>Neither side specified what concrete actions had been taken.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday Russia had planned acts of "air terror" against airlines worldwide, accusing Moscow of staging sabotage and diversion on Polish soil and beyond.</p>

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday Russia had planned acts of "air terror" against airlines worldwide, accusing Moscow of staging sabotage and diversion on Polish soil and beyond.

Poland says Russia planned 'air terror' on airlines worldwide | ABS-CBN

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Poland says Russia planned 'air terror' on airlines worldwide

Poland says Russia planned 'air terror' on airlines worldwide

Agence France-Presse

Published Jan 16, 2025 01:17 AM PHT

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Updated Jan 16, 2025 01:53 AM PHT

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Russia

Poland

Donald Tusk

Vladimir Putin

air terrorism

Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky

European Union

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