Polish authorities said on Wednesday (9) that any supply of fighter jets to Ukraine must be done through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The statement came after Washington rejected Poland’s offer to take all of its MIG-29 jets to a US air base for delivery to Kiev. Follow the special coverage of the conflict by CNN.
Ukraine has asked Western nations to provide fighter jets to fight the Russian invasion that has caused more than 2 million refugees to leave the country. US lawmakers responded by pressing President Joe Biden’s administration to facilitate the transfer of aircraft.
On Tuesday, Poland said it was ready to send all of its MIG-29 jets to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and make them available to the United States, urging other NATO members to do so. the same. The Pentagon later dismissed the offer as not “sustainable”.
“The US does not want these planes to arrive in Ukraine from US bases,” Jakub Kumoch, foreign affairs adviser to the Polish president, told public broadcaster TVP Info. “Poland is ready to act, but only within the framework of the alliance, within the framework of NATO.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also repeatedly called on the West to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine, but the United States and its NATO allies have rejected those requests fearing a direct confrontation with Moscow.
The Russian Defense Ministry has warned that countries offering airfields to Ukraine for attacks on Russia could be considered to have entered the conflict.
Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told public radio station Polskie Radio 1 that Poland had to prioritize its security when considering supplying jets to Ukraine.
“It cannot be that Poland has – as the only NATO country – to take the risk, and the other countries would not have to compensate or share with us in any way,” he said.
The MIG-29 is a fighter jet that was developed in the Soviet Union, and since Ukraine’s military already pilots Russian-made aircraft, it is the best choice for Ukrainian pilots who already know how to operate them, experts say. Training fighter pilots on US-built aircraft can take years and requires different criteria for maintenance.
Source: CNN Brasil
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