The United States rejected Poland’s proposal to deliver to the US military its planes so that they are subsequently delivered to Ukraine.
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Poland’s Soviet hunting aircraft will never have been covered by Kiev, which, at war, wants to strengthen its air defenses. If the United States seemed open to the idea of a transfer, the option is now removed by most of the interested parties.
In the EU, the idea of providing hunting planes from Ukraine quickly emerged in the wake of the Russian invasion of February 24th. On February 27, Josep Borrell, the head of the European diplomacy, declared that “the head of the Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kuleba, said they needed planes that the Ukrainians can fly. Some Member States have this kind of aircraft And we will provide them with other weapons necessary for a war “.
It turns out that from all NATO member countries, Poland has the greatest number of these Soviet gear: 23 MIG-29 in good condition. If Slovakia and Bulgaria had already indicated that they were not ready to transmit their military fleet from the 1980s to Ukraine, doubt seemed permitted for Poland. Especially since, Sunday, March 6, the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal stated that the White House worked with Warsaw to respond to the requests of Ukraine on this point, providing F-16 to Poland in compensation. Questioned on the same day, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, evoked on the CBS television plateau a “green light” of the United States, in case the Polish government would like to transfer its hunting planes to Ukraine: ” We are in discussion with our Polish friends right now to see how we could provide for their needs if they decided to give up their hunting planes to the Ukrainians. “
One third of the Polish fleet
These statements were immediately denied by the Polish government spokesperson, Piotr Müller, at a press conference: “For the moment, no decision was made about aircraft transfers.” By Elsewhere, he took care to call back “that no plane took off from Polish soil to join Ukraine in order to help fighting”. Faced with a rumor that continued to swell, it was the turn of President Polish, Andrzej Duda, to speak, Monday, at a press briefing. “The MIG-29 are Polish and remain it. Nothing has changed in this case,” he said, adding that “President Zelensky watches up to the safety of Ukraine, I watch the safety of Poland “. MIG-29 and SU-25 represent about one-third of the Polish air forces, as recalled by the former Minister of Defense Tomasz Siemoniak, in office between 2011 and 2015, and interviewed by Le Monde: “Poland has only 80 hunting planes. And a loss of one third of our potential would require immediate replacement to ensure our safety. “
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