Ukraine Updates: Russia Extends Mariupol Surrender Deadline, Wimbledon Bans Russian and Belarusian Players

I love Wimbledon so much. I reported from it live two years in a row for Breitbart Sports. But the oldest and grandest tennis Grand Slam has taken the collective guilt route.

Russia also extended the Mariupol surrender deadline after Ukrainians refused to leave and surrender the port city.

America Gives Ukraine Parts, Not Jets

The Pentagon said that we have not given Ukraine any jets:

The US said on Wednesday that a previous announcement that it had supplied Ukraine with aircraft was inaccurate, as it had actually supplied the country with aircraft parts rather than whole jets.Pentagon spokesman John Kirby retracted his statement from Tuesday that Ukraine had received fighter jets from an unnamed ally.While fixed-wing aircraft have been offered by an unidentified country to bolster Kyiv’s defences, “they have not received whole aircraft from another nation,” Kirby told reporters.”I was mistaken. They have not received whole aircraft from another nation,” Kirby said.”That said, Ukrainians have received through United States coordination and provision enough spare parts and additional equipment such that they have been able to put in operation more fixed-wing aircraft in their fleet than they had even two to three weeks ago.”

Mariupol

How sweet. Russia is giving Ukrainians more time to surrender Mariupol. Ukrainians say it won’t happen:

Russia gave Ukraine of a new deadline to surrender Mariupol on Wednesday afternoon as Kremlin-backed troops continue to struggle to gain control of the strategic port city.Moscow has failed to take any major cities in Ukraine and was forced to retreat from Kyiv, instead sending troops east to the Donbas.Ukrainians remained defiant in the besieged city on Tuesday as a deadline for that day passed without surrender.“We will not lay down our weapons,” Mariupol commander Major Serhiy Volyna told the Washington Post, adding they “may be facing our last days, if not hours.”

Wimbledon

The collective guilt only punishes regular people. Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Lukashenko do not care who gets punished and banned.

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014. Russia annexed Crimea. Why now? This is stupid:

The decision would exclude a number of highly ranked players. Four Russian men are ranked in the top 30 on the ATP Tour, including No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, who is the reigning U.S. Open men’s singles champion, although he is currently recovering from a hernia operation. Russia has five women in the top 40 of the WTA Tour rankings, led by No. 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus is ranked No. 4 and was a Wimbledon semifinalist last year. Her compatriot Victoria Azarenka, a former No. 1, is ranked No. 18.After the war began in February, professional tennis organizers were quick to bar the Russians and their Belarusian allies from team events like the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, both of which were won by Russian teams in 2021. The sport’s seven governing bodies announced that ban collectively on March 1. And the men’s and women’s tour events in Moscow later this season were canceled, as well as a number of lower-tier events in Russia and Belarus. The International Tennis Federation also announced the suspension of the Russian Tennis Federation and Belarusian Tennis Federation from I.T.F. membership.But Russian and Belarusian players have been permitted to continue competing on the professional tours as individuals albeit without any national identification. There are no longer flags or countries listed next to their names on scoreboards, in draws or in the published computer rankings.

Tags: Russia, Sports, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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