Poland said it will hand over all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to the US to provide aircraft to Ukraine
The Pentagon has dismissed Poland’s proposal to transfer its MiG-29 fighter jets to the United States for delivery to Ukraine.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement that the Pentagon did not believe Poland’s proposal was “tenable.”
“It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it,” Kirby said. “We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one.”
The Pentagon announcement came hours after Polish officials released a statement saying thatPoland is ready to deploy all its Russian-made MIG-29 jets to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, putting the aircraft at the disposal of the United States and agreeing to the arrangement of delivering the aircraft to Ukraine.
The move is aimed at helping Ukraine fight Russian invasion as Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly Soviet-era fighter jets. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for the jets if NATO wouldn’t establish a “no-fly” zone.
“The authorities of the Republic of Poland…are ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MIG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America,” the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Poland has urged other NATO members that own planes of that type to do the same. “At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities,” it said. Poland would supply Ukraine with 28 Soviet-era fighters and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for their loss.
The decision came as Washington had been working with Poland and consulting with other NATO allies to supply warplanes to Ukraine for use against Russian forces.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier said the United States is working on a deal with Poland to supply Ukraine with jets amid Russia’s invasion. “We are looking actively now at the question of airplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decide to supply those planes,” he said during a visit to Moldova.
Poland is supporting Kyiv with defensive weapons, but said it would not send jets to Ukraine, as “any decisions on delivering offensive weapons have to be taken by the entire NATO and on a unanimous basis,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said. “This is why we are ready to give all of our fleet of jet fighters to Ramstein, but we are not ready to make any moves on our own because, as I said, we are not party to this war,” he added.
