The American military said two Russian Su-27 jets intercepted the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drone in international airspace before one of them struck the aircraft’s propeller, causing US forces to have to bring it down.

Russia denied involvement, with a senior figure describing the episode as a “provocation.”

My colleague Thomas Kinsgley has this breaking story:

Poland plans to give Ukraine around a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, which would make it the first Nato member to fulfill the Ukrainian government’s increasingly urgent requests for warplanes. President Andrzej Duda said Poland would hand over four of the Soviet-made warplanes “within the next few days” and that the rest needed servicing and would be supplied later. The Polish word he used to describe their number can mean between 11 and 19. “They are in the last years of their functioning but they are in good working condition,” Duda said of the aircraft. Duda did not say whether other countries would be making the same move, although Slovakia has said it would send its disused MiGs to Ukraine.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said the country “needs the world’s attention even more than before” as he thanked British journalists for their “vital support” in the war against Russia.

In a keynote address to a conference in London on Wednesday (15 March), Mr Zelensky urged more reporters to travel to Ukraine to “spread the truth about the Russian aggression, support our defence, and give Ukrainian life worth.”

He told representatives of the British media the country had issued over 15,000 accreditations to foreign journalists since the beginning of the conflict.

The US military has seen a significant spike in unprofessional behavior by Russia’s air force in Syria since 1 March, the top U.S commander for the region said on Thursday, citing flights by armed Russian warplanes over US bases there as an example.

“We have seen a significant spike since about 1 March in Syria,” General Erik Kurilla, head of US Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The comments by Kurilla follow US assertions that Russia’s intercept of a drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday was part of a pattern of more aggressive behavior by Russia’s military.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said he and senior Chinese diplomat Qin Gang had discussed the “significance of the principle of territorial integrity” during a phone call on Thursday.

“I underscored the importance of (Volodymyr Zelensky’s) Peace Formula for ending the aggression and restoring just peace in Ukraine,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

A Chinese foreign ministry statement quoted Qin as saying Beijing was concerned about an escalation of the war in Ukraine and that it wants Moscow and Kyiv to engage in peace talks.

A Chinese-made commercial drone that was retrofitted and weaponised has been shot down in Ukraine.

The Mugin-5, available for sale on Alibaba – China’s equivalent of Amazon – was taken out of the sky by AK-47s in the wartorn country over the weekend.

The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was made by a Chinese manufacturer based in the port city of Xiamen, on China’s eastern coast.

China is concerned about an escalation of the war in Ukraine and wants Moscow and Kyiv to engage in peace talks, senior Chinese diplomat Qin Gang told his Ukrainian counterpart on Thursday.

“China hopes that all parties will remain calm, rational and restrained, and resume peace talks as soon as possible,” Qin told Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

Qin added that China hopes Ukraine, Russia will not close door to political solution, the ministry said.

Western nations are debating whether to send fighter jets to Ukraine, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV2 on Thursday.

“This is something we’re discussing in the group of allied countries. It’s a big wish from Ukraine,” she said.

Poland will send four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in coming days, the Polish president said earlier on Thursday, making it the first of Kyiv’s allies to provide such aircraft.

A special UN commission for Ukraine has not found evidence of genocide as it investigates violations of human rights in the conflict with Russia, its head said on Thursday.

“We have not found that there has been a genocide within Ukraine,” Erik¸se, head of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, told journalists.

He said the team was following the evidence and that there were “some aspects which may raise questions” about possible genocide.