The US Department of Defense has corrected information about an alleged delivery of fighter jets from abroad to Ukraine. “I was wrong,” a Pentagon spokesperson said. John Kirby on Wednesday.
“They did not receive entire aircraft from another country.” Instead, Ukraine received “spare parts and additional equipment” and managed to make more of its own operational fighters.
Kirby said he mistakenly thought a country’s offer to supply fighter jets to Ukraine had been implemented. “I’m sorry about the mistake.”
Spokesperson for the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that Ukraine had “received additional aircraft and aircraft parts” from abroad recently in the fight against Russia. He declined to give more information about the origin and design.
Requests were not fulfilled
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly asked NATO to provide combat aircraft so the country could defend itself against superior Russian air force. Among other things, there was the delivery of Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets, in which Ukrainian pilots are trained.
Several Eastern European states have MiG-29 jets. In early March, however, the United States rejected a proposal by Poland to bring Polish Air Force MiG jets to the American base in Ramstein, Germany, for delivery to Ukraine. The US Department of Defense explained that NATO’s delivery of the combat aircraft to Ukraine could be perceived by Russia as an escalation and was therefore very risky.