Mr Abramovich, who is worth about £9.4 billion, was one of seven oligarchs hit with an asset freeze and a travel ban in an updated sanctions list published today. The move comes as the Government pressures Russia over its invasion of Ukraine which is now in its third week.
The Government document says Mr Abramovich has had a "close relationship for decades" with the Russian President, something he has in the past denied.
It adds: "This association has included obtaining a financial benefit or other material benefit from Putin and the government of Russia."
Oleg Deripaska, an industrialist worth £2 billion who has had close links with the British political establishment, was also targeted, as was Mr Putin's "right-hand man" Igor Sechin, who is the chief executive of the Rosneft state oil firm, along with four others.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine.
"Today’s sanctions are the latest step in the UK’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people.
"We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of sovereign allies."
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss added: "Today’s sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society.
"With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.
"Today's sanctions obviously have a direct impact on Chelsea and its fans.
"We have been working hard to ensure the club & the national game are not unnecessarily harmed by these important sanctions.
"To ensure the club can continue to compete and operate we are issuing a special licence that will allow fixtures to be fulfilled, staff to be paid and existing ticket holders to attend matches while, crucially, depriving Abramovich of benefiting from his ownership of the club.
"I know this brings some uncertainty, but the Government will work with the league and clubs to keep football being played while ensuring sanctions hit those intended.
"Football clubs are cultural assets and the bedrock of our communities. We're committed to protecting them."
Last week, Mr Abramovich, who has owned Chelsea since 2003, said he would sell the club, with the net proceeds being donated to a charity benefiting "all victims of the war in Ukraine".
His spokesman said he would be playing a "limited" role in trying to broker a "peaceful resolution" to the Kremlin's attack on its neighbour.
A Ukrainian minister has said Russia must urgently observe a temporary ceasefire to allow repairs on a power line to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - warning radiation could be leaked if an electricity outage continues.
Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said "reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity" to power the facility.
On Twitter, he added: "After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent."
However, the UN nuclear watchdog said it "sees no critical impact on safety" over the loss of power at the decommissioned site, which is about 100km (62 miles) from the capital Kyiv.
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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) added the plant, which has been disconnected from the country's power grid, has "sufficient" cooling water for spent nuclear fuel.
The Chernobyl plant is the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in April 1986.
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The Ukrainian authorities said with emergency generators currently supplying back-up power, the outage could put systems for cooling nuclear material at risk.
The cause of the damage to the power line serving Chernobyl was not immediately clear, but it comes amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The site has been under the control of Russian troops since last week.
Ukrainian grid operator Ukrenerho said that, according to the national nuclear regulator, all Chernobyl facilities are without power and the diesel generators have fuel for 48 hours.
Without power the "parameters of nuclear and radiation safety" cannot be controlled, it said.
#Ukraine has informed IAEA of power loss at #Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, @rafaelmgrossi says development violates key safety pillar on ensuring uninterrupted power supply; in this case IAEA sees no critical impact on safety.
— IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 9, 2022
'Radioactive cloud could be carried to other regions'
Ukraine's state-run nuclear company Energoatom said there were about 20,000 spent fuel assemblies at Chernobyl that could not be kept cool during a power outage - and their warming could lead to "the release of radioactive substances into the environment".
"The radioactive cloud could be carried by wind to other regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe," it said in a statement.
Energoatom said without power, ventilation systems at the plant would also not be working and would leave staff exposed to dangerous doses of radiation.
Ukraine has informed the IAEA of power loss at Chernobyl. France is in contact with the UN watchdog as it seeks to assess the situation - and was also asking Russia to co-operate.
French President Emmanuel Macron had urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure the protection and security of Ukraine's nuclear sites during talks at the weekend.
Chernobyl: What do the experts think?
Experts have said the situation at Chernobyl is "unhealthy" and presents "several areas of concern".
Tony Roulstone, from the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University, said that cutting the power to Chernobyl "could lead to the core overheating" but it is "probably not as worrying as Fukushima because the Chernobyl reactors have already been shut down for a few days".
He said: "Nevertheless, it is a most unhealthy situation for both them and the surrounding area."
Mr Roulstone added "the lack of ventilation and fire systems will become a problem" if there was a fuel "release" or a fire.
Professor Tom Scott from Bristol University said he "would concur with the IAEA statement" that the spent fuel "does not present a substantial risk, even with the current power outage".
He added: "The fuel in these pools is decades old, and hence has very little residual heat being generated."
Professor Claire Corkhill is the chair in Nuclear Material Degradation at Sheffield University and said: "With the electricity supply to the Chernobyl site unavailable, there are several areas of concern with regards to the safety of the nuclear material stored there."
She said one of those is "the maintenance of the ventilation system in the new safe confinement structure".
"If there is no power to this structure, we could see the complete failure of the 1.5 billion euro decommissioning programme to make the site safe once and for all," she added.
Professor Geraldine Thomas, of Imperial College London and director of the Chernobyl Tissue Bank, said: "In the unlikely event of a release of any radiation, this would be only to the immediate local area, and therefore not pose any threat to Western Europe."
On Tuesday, the IAEA said the systems monitoring nuclear material at Chernobyl's radioactive waste facilities had stopped transmitting data.
Ukrainian officials have confirmed they do not know what the radiation levels are in Chernobyl following its capture by Russian troops.
Around 400 Russian troops are said to be stationed at the power plant.
Maria Zakhorava, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the site was operating as normal.
A Ukrainian minister has said Russia must urgently observe a temporary ceasefire to allow repairs on a power line to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant - warning radiation could be leaked if an electricity outage continues.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said "reserve diesel generators have a 48-hour capacity" to power the facility.
On Twitter, he added: "After that, cooling systems of the storage facility for spent nuclear fuel will stop, making radiation leaks imminent."
However, the UN nuclear watchdog said it "sees no critical impact on safety" over the loss of power at Chernobyl, which is about 100km (62 miles) from Kyiv.
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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) added the plant, which has been disconnected from the country's power grid, has "sufficient" cooling water for spent nuclear fuel.
The Chernobyl plant is the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in April 1986.
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The Ukrainian authorities said with emergency generators currently supplying back-up power, the outage could put systems for cooling nuclear material at risk.
The cause of the damage to the power line serving Chernobyl was not immediately clear, but it comes amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The site has been under the control of Russian troops since last week.
Ukrainian grid operator Ukrenerho said that, according to the national nuclear regulator, all Chernobyl facilities are without power and the diesel generators have fuel for 48 hours.
Without power the "parameters of nuclear and radiation safety" cannot be controlled, it said.
#Ukraine has informed IAEA of power loss at #Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, @rafaelmgrossi says development violates key safety pillar on ensuring uninterrupted power supply; in this case IAEA sees no critical impact on safety.
— IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 9, 2022
'Radioactive cloud could be carried to other regions'
Ukraine's state-run nuclear company Energoatom said there were about 20,000 spent fuel assemblies at Chernobyl that could not be kept cool during a power outage - and their warming could lead to "the release of radioactive substances into the environment".
"The radioactive cloud could be carried by wind to other regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe," it said in a statement.
Energoatom said without power, ventilation systems at the plant would also not be working and would leave staff exposed to dangerous doses of radiation.
Ukraine has informed the IAEA of power loss at Chernobyl. France is in contact with the UN watchdog as it seeks to assess the situation - and was also asking Russia to co-operate.
French President Emmanuel Macron had urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure the protection and security of Ukraine's nuclear sites during talks at the weekend.
Chernobyl: What do the experts think?
Experts have said the situation at Chernobyl is "unhealthy" and presents "several areas of concern".
Tony Roulstone, from the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University, said that cutting the power to Chernobyl "could lead to the core overheating" but it is "probably not as worrying as Fukushima because the Chernobyl reactors have already been shut down for a few days".
He said: "Nevertheless, it is a most unhealthy situation for both them and the surrounding area."
Mr Roulstone added "the lack of ventilation and fire systems will become a problem" if there was a fuel "release" or a fire.
Professor Tom Scott from Bristol University said he "would concur with the IAEA statement" that the spent fuel "does not present a substantial risk, even with the current power outage".
He added: "The fuel in these pools is decades old, and hence has very little residual heat being generated."
Professor Claire Corkhill is the chair in Nuclear Material Degradation at Sheffield University and said: "With the electricity supply to the Chernobyl site unavailable, there are several areas of concern with regards to the safety of the nuclear material stored there."
She said one of those is "the maintenance of the ventilation system in the new safe confinement structure".
"If there is no power to this structure, we could see the complete failure of the 1.5 billion euro decommissioning programme to make the site safe once and for all," she added.
Professor Geraldine Thomas, of Imperial College London and director of the Chernobyl Tissue Bank, said: "In the unlikely event of a release of any radiation, this would be only to the immediate local area, and therefore not pose any threat to Western Europe."
On Tuesday, the IAEA said the systems monitoring nuclear material at Chernobyl's radioactive waste facilities had stopped transmitting data.
Ukrainian officials have confirmed they do not know what the radiation levels are in Chernobyl following its capture by Russian troops.
Around 400 Russian troops are said to be stationed at the power plant.
Maria Zakhorava, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the site was operating as normal.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has announced the UK government will send more weapons to Ukraine, including fresh supplies of anti-tank missiles, for the country to defend itself against Russian aggression.
Updating MPs on the Ukraine war in the Commons, he told MPs that the UK has delivered 3,615 anti-tank (NLAW) weapons and will soon be supplying a "small consignment" of Javelin anti-tank missiles.
He said the Russians are "changing their tactics and so the Ukrainians need to too", to help Ukrainian forces tackle President Putin's air force.
Mr Wallace said that the UK is exploring the possibility of donating Starstreak anti-air missiles to Ukraine.
Supplies of rations, medical equipment and other non-lethal military aid will also be increased, the defence secretary said.
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Starstreak missiles travel at more than three times the speed of sound, according to the British Army, and can be shoulder-mounted or attached to a vehicle.
NLAWs are a portable, shoulder-mounted missile system weighing just 12.5kg. They have a range of up to 600 metres.
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The British Army says the missile can destroy "any main battle tank in just one shot by striking it from above".
The Javelin is a medium-range missile that can strike targets at up to 1.5 miles (2.5km) away.
It is heavier than an NLAW, at 24.3kg, and is a "fire and forget" system, allowing the user to lock on to a target, fire and then focus on a different target.
It comes as the Russian invasion enters its 14th day.
Mr Wallace said: "In response to a Ukrainian request, the government has taken the decision to explore the donation of Starstreak high-velocity manned portable anti-air missiles.
"We believe that this system will remain within the definition of defensive weapons but will allow the Ukrainian force to better defend their skies.
"We shall also be increasing the supplies of rations, medical equipment and other non-lethal military aid."
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0:50
Grant Shapps reiterates that the UK government and NATO are not prepared to engage militarily in Ukraine for fear of escalation to a war across Europe.
The transport secretary told Sky News that all NATO partners "work together" on the situation in Ukraine, adding: "It is important that we are a defensive organisation which means we won't be getting directly involved in the war."
The Pentagon has rejected Poland's offer to give the United States its MiG-29 fighters, with the intention of them then being passed to Ukraine.
Mr Shapps said the reported deal to loan fighter jets is "not something which is going to develop", but that the UK "are providing huge amounts of support".
Mr Wallace told MPs in the Commons that if the international community stand together against Russian aggression "then the Kremlin's threats cannot hurt us".
"We should take strength from the peoples right across Europe who are standing shoulder to shoulder to protect our values, our freedom, our tolerance, our democracy and our free press. That is our shield," he said.
The defence secretary added that it is Ukraine's "darkest hour".
PM resists calls to drop visa requirements
It comes as Boris Johnson has continued to resist calls from Kyiv and MPs across the House to drop visa requirements for Ukrainians fleeing the violence, insisting the security checks are necessary to ensure the UK's safety.
The prime minister said a thousand visas had been granted under the scheme allowing relatives of people in Britain to flee the war zone to join their families and he promised another programme allowing individuals to offer a home to Ukrainians would be set out in "the next few days".
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8:05
Boris Johnson says the UK will not adopt a system in which people can enter the UK without 'any checks, or any controls at all'.
"We've already got 1,000 people in under the existing scheme, that number will climb very sharply," Mr Johnson said. "No one has been turned away."
The PM added: "We know how unscrupulous Putin can be in his methods, it would not be right to expose this country to unnecessary security risk and we will not do it.
"We are going to be as generous as we can possibly be, but we must have checks."
Ukraine's President has said the international community will be responsible for a mass "humanitarian catastrophe" if it does not agree a no-fly zone to protect his country.
In a daily televised address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the threat level in Ukraine was at a maximum nearly two weeks into Russia's invasion, but Ukrainians had shown they would never give in.
"Russia uses missiles, aircraft and helicopters against us, against civilians, against our cities, against our infrastructure. It is the humanitarian duty of the world to respond," he said.
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0:43
The president of Ukraine once again says that his country needs intervention from allies.
A temporary ceasefire to allow civilians to escape from besieged cities is in place in parts of Ukraine - despite Russia failing to honour pledges in previous days.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukraine will try to evacuate civilians through six "humanitarian corridors", including from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.
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She said in a video statement that Ukrainian armed forces had agreed to stop firing in those areas from 9am until 9pm (0700-1900 GMT) and urged Russian forces to fulfil their commitment to local ceasefires.
She said the corridors that would open would go from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia; Enerhodar to Zaporizhzhia; Sumy to Poltava; Izyum to Lozova; Volnovakha to Pokrovsk; and from several towns around Kyiv which she identified as Vorzel, Borodyanka, Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel to the capital.
A convoy of evacuees left the city of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, its mayor said in a statement on social media.
Enerhodar is the site of Europe's largest nuclear power station of its kind.
The Russian assault on the area raised alarm bells last week when parts of the plant's facility were set ablaze. The plant remains under Russian control.
Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov said "mostly women and children, the elderly, left the city."
Russia 'holding Mariupol hostage'
There are few other details about the new evacuation effort in other cities.
Mariupol, where nearly half of the population of 430,000 is hoping to flee, has been surrounded by Russian forces for days.
Corpses lie in the streets and people break into shops in search of food and melt snow for water. Thousands huddle in basements, sheltering from the Russian shells pounding this strategic port on the Azov Sea.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of holding residents of Mariupol hostage by continuing to shell the city.
"Almost 3,000 newborn babies lack medicine and food," he wrote on Twitter. "Russia continues holding hostage over 400,000 people in Mariupol, blocks humanitarian aid and evacuation. Indiscriminate shelling continues."
Orchestra plays in Kyiv square
In Kyiv air raid sirens repeatedly went off and explosions could be heard there, raising tensions in the rattled city.
But in an act of defiance on a Kyiv square, an orchestra assembled before a small crowd to play the national anthem as Russian forces advanced on the city.
The Kyiv-Classic Symphony Orchestra also played an excerpt from Beethoven's Ode to Joy, on which the European Union's anthem is based a nod to the Ukraine government's desire to move closer to Europe and away from Russia's orbit.
Dozens of people gathered to watch on the central Maidan Square, some waving Ukrainian flags. They applauded when the national anthem was finished and a woman cried out "To Ukraine!"
Shelling disrupts evacuation in Izyum
A planned evacuation of civilians from Izyum in the eastern Kharkiv region was held up by Russian shelling, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said in an online post.
"Buses are still waiting at the entrance to Izyum," he said, adding that negotiations with the Russians were under way with the support of the Red Cross.
Britain is sending more weapons to Ukraine to help in the defensive effort, the Defence Secretary has said.
Ben Wallace told MPs the Russians are "changing their tactics and so the Ukrainians need to too", with the UK exploring the possible donation of portable anti-air missiles.
He also confirmed the UK has delivered 3,615 anti-tank weapons, known as NLAWs, and will shortly be supplying a "small consignment" of Javelin anti-tank missiles.
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1:48
'They're turning Sumy into hell'
Radiation leak risk after power cut at Chernobyl
Radioactive substances could be released from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant because it cannot cool spent nuclear fuel after its power connection was severed, Ukraine's state-run nuclear company Energoatom has said.
It said fighting made it impossible to immediately repair the high-voltage power line to the plant, which was captured by Russian forces.
Energoatom said there were about 20,000 spent fuel assemblies at Chernobyl that could not be kept cool amid a power outage.
Their warming could lead to "the release of radioactive substances into the environment. The radioactive cloud could be carried by wind to other regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe," it said in a statement.
Mr Kuleba said Russia must urgently observe a temporary ceasefire to allow repairs on the power line.
But the UN nuclear watchdog said the loss of power does not have any critical impact on safety.
Russia says its operation is going to plan
Russia will achieve its goal of ensuring Ukraine's neutral status and would prefer to do that through talks, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
She told a briefing, Moscow's aims do not include overthrowing the Kyiv government and it hopes to achieve more significant progress in the next round of talks with Ukraine, adding that Russia's military operation was going strictly in line with its plan.
She also called for the United States to explain to the world why it was supporting what Moscow cast as a military biological programme in Ukraine.
Last week, offering no evidence, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had information that the US was worried about the prospect of losing control over what he described as chemical and biological laboratories in Ukraine and accused Britain of building military bases there.
The allegation is denied by Kyiv and the Pentagon.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the international community will be responsible for a mass "humanitarian catastrophe" if it does not agree a no-fly zone to protect his country.
In a daily televised address, he said the threat level in Ukraine was at a maximum nearly two weeks into Russia's invasion, but Ukrainians had shown they would never give in.
"Russia uses missiles, aircraft and helicopters against us, against civilians, against our cities, against our infrastructure. It is the humanitarian duty of the world to respond," he said.
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0:43
The president of Ukraine once again says that his country needs intervention from allies.
A temporary ceasefire to allow civilians to escape from besieged cities is in place in parts of Ukraine - despite Russia failing to honour pledges in previous days.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukraine will try to evacuate civilians through six "humanitarian corridors", including from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.
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She said in a video statement that Ukrainian armed forces had agreed to stop firing in those areas from 9am until 9pm (0700-1900 GMT) and urged Russian forces to fulfil their commitment to local ceasefires.
She said the corridors that would open would go from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia; Enerhodar to Zaporizhzhia; Sumy to Poltava; Izyum to Lozova; Volnovakha to Pokrovsk; and from several towns around Kyiv which she identified as Vorzel, Borodyanka, Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel to the capital.
A convoy of evacuees left the city of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, its mayor said in a statement on social media.
Enerhodar is the site of Europe's largest nuclear power station of its kind.
The Russian assault on the area raised alarm bells last week when parts of the plant's facility were set ablaze. The plant remains under Russian control.
Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov said "mostly women and children, the elderly, left the city."
There are few other details about the new evacuation effort in other cities.
Mariupol, where nearly half of the population of 430,000 is hoping to flee, has been surrounded by Russian forces for days.
Corpses lie in the streets and people break into shops in search of food and melt snow for water. Thousands huddle in basements, sheltering from the Russian shells pounding this strategic port on the Azov Sea.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of holding residents of Mariupol hostage by continuing to shell the city.
"Almost 3,000 newborn babies lack medicine and food," he wrote on Twitter. "Russia continues holding hostage over 400,000 people in Mariupol, blocks humanitarian aid and evacuation. Indiscriminate shelling continues."
Orchestra plays in Kyiv square
In Kyiv air raid sirens repeatedly went off and explosions could be heard there, raising tensions in the rattled city.
But in an act of defiance on a Kyiv square, an orchestra assembled before a small crowd to play the national anthem as Russian forces advanced on the city.
The Kyiv-Classic Symphony Orchestra also played an excerpt from Beethoven's Ode to Joy, on which the European Union's anthem is based a nod to the Ukraine government's desire to move closer to Europe and away from Russia's orbit.
Dozens of people gathered to watch on the central Maidan Square, some waving Ukrainian flags. They applauded when the national anthem was finished and a woman cried out "To Ukraine!"
Shelling disrupts evacuation in Izyum
A planned evacuation of civilians from Izyum in the eastern Kharkiv region was held up by Russian shelling, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said an online post.
"Buses are still waiting at the entrance to Izyum," he said, adding that negotiations with the Russians were under way with the support of the Red Cross.
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1:48
'They're turning Sumy into hell'
Radiation leak risk after power cut at Chernobyl
Radioactive substances could be released from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant because it cannot cool spent nuclear fuel after its power connection was severed, Ukraine's state-run nuclear company Energoatom has said.
It said fighting made it impossible to immediately repair the high-voltage power line to the plant, which was captured by Russian forces.
Energoatom said there were about 20,000 spent fuel assemblies at Chernobyl that could not be kept cool amid a power outage.
Their warming could lead to "the release of radioactive substances into the environment. The radioactive cloud could be carried by wind to other regions of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Europe," it said in a statement.
Mr Kuleba said Russia must urgently observe a temporary ceasefire to allow repairs on the power line.
But the UN nuclear watchdog said the loss of power does not have any critical impact on safety.
Russia says its operation is going to plan
Russia will achieve its goal of ensuring Ukraine's neutral status and would prefer to do that through talks, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
She told a briefing Moscow's aims do not include overthrowing the Kyiv government and it hopes to achieve more significant progress in the next round of talks with Ukraine, adding that Russia's military operation was going strictly in line with its plan.
She also called for the United States to explain to the world why it was supporting what Moscow cast as a military biological programme in Ukraine.
Last week, offering no evidence, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia had information that the US was worried about the prospect of losing control over what he described as chemical and biological laboratories in Ukraine and accused Britain of building military bases there.
The allegation is denied by Kyiv and the Pentagon.
Poland is prepared to put all its MiG-29 fighter jets at the disposal of the US, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, amid a high-stakes debate over how to support Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion of its territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed for Nato states to provide his country with planes to bolster its capabilities and US officials have been discussing providing Poland with F-16s in exchange if it did so.
Polish officials have expressed reservations about taking any steps that could drag their country into the war. But the foreign ministry said that Warsaw was prepared to send its MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein air base in Germany “immediately and free of charge” and put them at the disposal of the US government.
“At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities. Poland is ready to immediately establish the conditions of purchase of the planes,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The Polish government also requests other Nato allies — owners of MiG-29 jets — to act in the same vein.”
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the US was looking “very actively” at supplying military aircraft to Poland should Warsaw choose to send its own to Ukraine. His remarks came after intense pressure from Zelensky, who said that if Nato would not institute a no-fly zone over Ukraine, then it should provide its air force with fighter jets.
To facilitate this, Zelensky asked the US to give Poland and other eastern European allies F-16 fighter jets, enabling those countries to then send Russian-made warplanes to Ukraine. Ukrainian pilots need Russian-made aircraft because those are the systems they have been trained to fly.