The US continues to negotiate with Poland about a possible addition to its fighter jet fleet if Warsaw decides to transfer its used MiG-29s to Ukraine, four US officials told POLITICO.
The ongoing negotiations, with President Volodymyr Zelensky pleading with Congress for help, highlight the desperate quest to find weapons to equip Ukrainian forces that continue to fight back against a massive Russian invasion.
When Poland considered sending its warplanes to Ukraine last week, Warsaw asked the White House if the Biden administration could guarantee it would provide them with American-made fighter jets to fill the gap. The White House said it would look into the issue. The Biden administration did not object to the Polish government handing over MiGs to Kiev, which could potentially escalate tensions between NATO and Moscow. Poland has held back its fighters for the time being.
Negotiations between Warsaw and Washington are still ongoing, although it may take a long time to allow Poland to receive new replacement fighter jets.
“We are working with the Poles on this issue and are consulting with the rest of our NATO allies,” a White House spokesman said. “We are also working on opportunities that could provide Poland if it decides to transfer aircraft to Ukraine.”
Some Eastern European countries, such as Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia, keep dozens of Russian-made aircraft in their stocks and are hesitant to abandon these aircraft without guarantees from the United States that they can replace them.
Poland has been modernizing its aircraft fleet since 2006, when it first began flying F-16s, and in 2020 signed a $4.6 billion deal for 32 F-35s, the first of which will arrive in 2024, which will make these older aircraft Russian-made consumables. .
The issue of sending planes into battle is more complicated than the efforts being made by more than two dozen European countries to send anti-tank and anti-aircraft defenses to Ukraine. In recent days, American and British warplanes have been constantly landing in Poland, loaded with these missiles, as well as other ammunition, food, small arms and ammunition.
The story goes on
Over the past few weeks, the US has sent 12,000 troops to Europe to support nervous allies on NATO’s eastern front, the bulk of which went to Poland to join the 4,000 US troops already stationed there. The troops are conducting training missions with the Polish military and could be called in to assist in a humanitarian emergency if a flood of war refugees overwhelms Polish and EU authorities.
The White House “did not object in any way to Poland moving planes to Ukraine,” the spokesman added, pointing out how difficult the operation would be to bring planes to Ukraine. Russian officials have vowed to attack any arms convoys entering the country.
The issue of transferring American F-16s to Poland is a complex one, given the sensitive avionics on American aircraft, the transfer of which abroad may not always be legal.
Following Zelenskiy’s passionate Zoom talk with senators on Saturday, during which he urged the US to send planes, drones, and Stinger missiles to Ukraine and impose oil sanctions on Russia, Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Jeanne Shaheen (DN. H.) sent a letter to President Joe Biden expressing their full support for Poland’s refueling of F-16s if they were to transfer their Russian aircraft, stating that they would work to secure funding to fund the transfer.
Again and again attempts to get MiGs to Ukraine began over the weekend, when European Union security chief Josep Borrell made the startling announcement that several countries would soon send fighter jets to the border to hand over to the Ukrainian armed forces.
Ukrainian officials then told Politico that several of their pilots had already arrived in Poland for the transfer, but the deal had stalled. Bulgaria and Slovakia also rejected this idea, and the Ukrainian pilots left with nothing.
The US has already sent $240 million of the $350 million in military aid recently approved by Biden, with the rest expected to arrive in the coming days.