Russian Ministry Defense: ‘Participation’ in the war means the provision of foreign airports to the Ukrainian air force

LAST UPDATE: 18.10

Any country offering its airports to Ukraine for attacks on Russia could be considered to have entered the conflict, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said today.

“The use of the air networks of these countries as a base for Ukrainian military aircraft and their subsequent use against the Russian armed forces can be seen as the involvement of these countries in an armed conflict.” said spokesman Igor Konashenkov, according to the Interfax news agency.

It is noted that the United States consider sending planes to Poland if Warsaw decides to send fighter jets to Ukraine, according to Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken earlier in the day during his visit to Moldova on Sunday, according to Reuters.

“We are now actively considering the issue of aircraft that Poland may provide to Ukraine and how we could make up for it if Poland decides to supply these aircraft” (ie the US will fill the gap in Polish aviation if it send its own aircraft to Ukraine), Blinken said. “I can not talk about a timetable, but I can only say that we are looking at it very, very actively.”

“We are considering how we could compensate if Poland decides to supply these planes,” Blinken said.

Several US media outlets have reported a possible deal between the United States and Poland to supply Warsaw fighter jets of Soviet origin to Ukraine in exchange for US F-16 fighter jets.

“We are working with the Poles on this issue and consulting with our other NATO allies,” a White House official told the Wall Street Journal and NBC.

It is reminded that Ukrainian President Zelensky yesterday called on Eastern European countries to offer aircraft to Ukraine. Earlier, Zelensky had expressed outrage at NATO for refusing to ban flights over Ukraine, which, according to Blinken and Putin, would mean NATO involvement in the war. does not want NATO).