AERIAL SUPPORTCalls Mount for West to Impose No-Fly Zone, Give Jets to Ukraine
Poland surprised the United States by offering to donate its Soviet-era MiG-29 warplanes to Ukraine in exchange for advanced U.S. fighter jets to be transferred to Poland. The Polish government didn’t get the green light from the Biden administration before going public with the plan, and the Pentagon Tuesday rejected the idea as not “a tenable one.”
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris travels to Poland’s capital, Warsaw, Wednesday as the Biden administration and its NATO allies debated the best ways to fortify Ukraine while avoiding being drawn directly into the fighting, which would risk a wider European war.
U.S. officials say Harris will be carrying a message to Poland that the United States stands “firmly and resolutely” with NATO allies and will continue to provide aid to Ukraine.
Her visit, however, coincides with diplomatic turbulence over a Polish offer, which caught Washington by surprise, to donate its Soviet-era MiG-29 warplanes to the U.S. for the fighter jets to be transferred to Ukraine. In turn, Warsaw wants Washington to replenish its air force with American-made planes.
The Polish government didn’t get the green light from the Biden administration before going public with the plan, and the Pentagon Tuesday rejected the idea as not “a tenable one.” Victoria Nuland, the third most senior U.S. State Department official, only learned the scheme had been made public by the Poles as she was giving testimony before a Capitol Hill committee and was questioned about it by senators.
Polish officials say they were only taking up a suggestion made by the Biden administration. On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was considering providing planes to Poland, if Warsaw decided to donate the MiG-29s.
And they emphasize no final decision has been made, saying the final responsibility for the move would need the backing of the entire NATO alliance. In his statement Tuesday about the scheme, Poland’s foreign minister said the Polish government is “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.”
They say international press coverage suggesting the U.S. dismissal of the plan is an indication of a fracture in NATO’s common front against Russia is an overstatement.
“There might have been some miscommunication between us and Washington,” a senior Polish official told VOA on the condition of anonymity. “But all alliance partners are trying to plot a way forward to assist Ukraine while at the same time reducing the risk of a wider war. The transfer of the planes would have to be part of a NATO initiative.”
