Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin says 'certain positive movements' in negotiations

Poland announced Tuesday it is "ready" to "immediately" hand over all its MiG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. air base in Germany to boost Ukraine's fight against Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the West and NATO to supply Ukraine with fighter jets.

The Polish government said in a statement that will provide its Russian-made MiGs to the Rammstein Air Base "free of charge," placing them "at the disposal" of the U.S. government, and asked the United States to backfill them "with used aircrafts with corresponding operational capabilities."

"The Polish Government also requests other NATO Allies -- owners of MiG-29 jets -- to act in the same vein," the statement added.

A senior U.S. defense official told ABC News: "We have seen the Polish government’s announcement and have nothing to offer at this time."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told ABC News they are working with the Polish government and consulting with NATO allies on this.

"This is Poland's sovereign decision to make. We have in no way opposed Poland transferring planes to Ukraine. There are a number of challenging practical question," the spokesperson said. "In the meantime, we continue to surge security assistance for Ukraine and deliveries are ongoing."

A senior U.S. diplomat told ABC News that the U.S. was not "pre-consulted" on this news. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that she found out about Poland's announcement while driving to Capitol Hill to testify.

"To my knowledge, it wasn't pre-consulted with us that they plan to give these planes to us, but as you know, we have been having consultations with them for a couple of days now about this request from the Ukrainians to receive this aircraft, and, were they to donate them, whether we would be able to help support backfill in their own security need," Nuland said.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou and Luis Martinez

Editor's note: This post was updated to reflect the correct fighter jet models as MiG-29s, not MiG-19s.

Ukrainian intelligence claimed Tuesday that a Russian general was killed in fighting near the eastern city of Kharkiv. If confirmed, this would be the second general Russia has lost in Ukraine in a week, according to reports from Russian media last week.

Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency identified the general as Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41st Army.

Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency also published audio of an alleged intercepted phone call between two officers from Russia’s FSB intelligence agency discussing Gerasimov’s death.

Russia has not confirmed or denied the death.

The executive director of the open source group Bellingcat, Christo Grozev, said he had confirmed Gerasimov’s death with a Russian source. Grosev said Bellingcat had also identified the FSB officer in the alleged recording.

Last week, the 41st Army’s deputy commander, Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, was confirmed by Russian media to have been killed.

-ABC News' Patrick Reevell

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke to the U.K.'s parliament Tuesday, asking it to increase the pressure of sanctions and "make our Ukrainian skies safe."

Zelenskyy has been asking NATO and the West to enforce a "no-fly" zone over Ukraine, but the U.S. and its allies have declined the request.

The Ukrainian president was greeted with rousing applause from members of the House, who stood before he spoke.

In his speech, Zelenskyy quoted Shakespeare, saying, "We have to be or not to be. This is a Shakespearean question. Not that I have the answer, but…Yes it is to be."

He also paraphrased the words of Winston Churchill.

"We will not give up. We will continue fighting for our land whatever the costs. We will fight in the fields, in the seas, in the streets. We will fight on the banks of different rivers," Zelenskyy said.

"We do not want to lose what we have," Zelenskyy said.

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Matt Gutman

The European Commission on Tuesday released its proposed plan to make the European Union independent from Russian fossil fuels before 2030, starting with gas.

The plan "will seek to diversify gas supplies, speed up the roll-out of renewable gases and replace gas in heating and power generation," according to the European Commission.

This plan could reduce the EU's demand for Russian gas by two-thirds before the end of the year, according to the European Commission.

"We must become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas. We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

Von der Leyen said she would be discussing the Commission's proposal with European leaders in Versailles later this week.

"Putin's war demonstrates the urgency of accelerating our clean energy transition," the European Commission wrote on Twitter.

Just before the invasion of Ukraine, the EU reported wholesale gas prices were around 200% higher than a year ago. The invasion aggravated the energy crisis even further.

The EU said it is reliant on imports of fossil fuels— gas, oil and coal— to meet its needs.

Last year, Russia provided around 45% of the EU's total gas imports, 27% of the EU's total crude oil imports and 46% of the EU's hard coal imports, according to the European Commission.

-ABC News' Christine Theodorou