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Diplomacy, EU bids and sanctions on 2 March 2022
Summary
A look back at how Ukraine's membership bid, mediation offers, talks and growing sanctions shaped the political picture in the early days of the invasion.
What did the politics of the war look like on 2 March 2022, in the first days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine? The reports from that day and the days just before it point to several parallel tracks: a European membership bid, early talks, offers of mediation, widening sanctions and open dissent inside Russia.
A membership bid moves quickly
On 28 February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an application for the country to join the European Union. The same day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine should eventually join the EU, calling it one of the bloc's own and saying the EU wanted to see it in the European family. On 1 March 2022, the European Parliament formally accepted Ukraine's application for EU membership.
The sequence shows how fast the political signalling moved: an application, a statement of support from the Commission's president and a parliamentary acceptance within roughly two days.
Talks and mediation offers
Also on 28 February 2022, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak announced that peace talks had begun. Ukraine used them to call for a ceasefire. On 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 2022, 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 for the conflict.
Military support and contested claims
On 28 February 2022, 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, including 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. The episode illustrated how the line between national and EU decisions mattered politically.
On 1 March 2022, a senior Ukrainian territorial defence forces official said Belarusian Ground Forces units had entered northern Chernihiv Oblast. The Ukrainian presidential office said there was no evidence of this. Belarus had previously said it would not send its armed forces to Ukraine. Ukrainian intelligence information, reported on 1 March 2022, also said the 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.
Sanctions spread
Pressure on Moscow also came from smaller states. On 1 March 2022, Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot announced that he would urgently bring a measure to parliament on Wednesday so the General Council could approve a legal framework for economic sanctions on Russia. The law was meant to freeze the bank assets of 700 people and 50 companies that the European Union considered linked to the invasion. It would be the first time in Andorra's history that sanctions were applied to a foreign country.
Dissent inside Russia
On 2 March 2022 itself, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny called for more anti-war protests in Russia and around the world, as well as protests against Putin.
What the day shows
Taken together, the reports show a political contest running alongside the fighting. Kyiv pursued closer ties with Europe and a ceasefire at the same time. Outside powers offered mediation, and European governments moved on sanctions. Several claims, such as the Belarusian deployment and the origin of the aircraft donations, were disputed or clarified almost immediately, which underlined how uncertain the information environment was in the first week of the invasion.
