Diplomacy and pressure on 2 March 2022

What did the politics of the war look like on 2 March 2022, the seventh day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine? The picture was one of parallel tracks: talks, appeals for membership of the European Union, arms transfers and protest.

Talks and mediation

On 28 February, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak announced that peace talks had begun. Ukraine used them to call for a ceasefire. The same day, the office of French President Emmanuel Macron said that, in a phone call, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed his willingness to make commitments to stop attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure and to secure major roadways.

On 1 March, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked China to help mediate a ceasefire. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi replied that China was ready to help Russia and Ukraine reach an agreement and mediate a ceasefire. China had also expressed regret over the conflict.

A bid for Europe

On 28 February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an application for his country to join the European Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Ukraine should eventually join the EU, calling it one of us and saying the Union wanted to see it in the European family. On 1 March, the European Parliament formally accepted the application.

Aircraft and sanctions

Also on 28 February, Ukrainian Air Force pilots began arriving in Poland to take control of fighter aircraft donated by EU countries. The Ukrainian government said the EU was handing over 70 fighter jets: 28 MiG-29s from Poland, 12 from Slovakia, 16 from Bulgaria and 14 Sukhoi Su-25s from Bulgaria. Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said he had rejected the request. EU security chief Josep Borrell later clarified that any donations were made bilaterally by individual member states, not by the EU itself.

Sanctions were spreading too. On 1 March, Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot announced he would take urgently to parliament a framework allowing economic sanctions on Russia. The law would freeze the bank assets of 700 people and 50 companies that the EU linked to the invasion. It would be the first time Andorra had applied sanctions to a foreign country.

Fronts and claims

On 1 March, a senior Ukrainian territorial defence official said Belarusian ground forces had entered northern Chernihiv Oblast. The Ukrainian presidential office said there was no evidence of this, and Belarus had previously said it would not send its armed forces to Ukraine.

Ukrainian intelligence information, reported on 1 March, held that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had foiled an assassination plot against Zelenskyy by killing a group of Chechen paramilitaries known as Kadyrovtsy, who had tried to enter Kyiv on 26 February.

Dissent in Russia

On 2 March, opposition leader Alexei Navalny called for more anti-war protests in Russia and around the world, as well as protests against Putin.