The United States is working on a deal with Poland to supply Russian-made MiG-29s to Ukraine. Warsaw would in turn be given F-16s by Washington
The US is working on a deal with Poland to provide Ukraine with Russian-made MiG-29s. America would backfill them with F-16s. AP
Russia has stepped up its assault in Ukraine, shelling cities and making the evacuation of civilians through the proposed humanitarian corridors difficult. As President Vladimir Putin refuses to back down, the United States and European countries are sending military equipment to the conflict-torn nation. There’s an urgent need to send warplanes amid fears that the Kremlin will increase airstrikes, as its forces on the ground make slow progress.
United States secretary of state Antony Blinken, who is touring Eastern Europe in wake of the invasion, met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba along the border with Poland. Kuleba had said that the highest demand was for fighting jets, attack aircraft, and air defence systems.
A day later, Blinken announced that America was chalking out a deal with Poland to supply Ukraine with fighter jets. “We are looking actively now at the question of airplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decide to supply those planes. I can’t speak to a timeline but I can just say we’re looking at it very, very actively,” he told the media from Moldova, a country to the south of Ukraine.
The crucial deal would involve Poland handing over its MiG-29s, the Russian-made jets, to their neighbours in need. As replacements, the US would provide Poland with F-16 fighters.
Blinken’s remarks come after Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a call on Saturday with US Congress members, asked Washington to facilitate the transfer of used Russian planes from Eastern European allies. In a desperate plea, Zelenskyy said that his country needs to secure its skies, either through a no-fly zone enforced by NATO or through the provision of more warplanes so Ukraine could better defend itself.
Ukrainian leaders have been persistently pushing the West for any help they can offer. On 4 March, the foreign minister made a similar request on Twitter. “Dear partners who still have not provided Ukraine with military aircraft: how can you sleep when Ukrainian children are under bombs in Mariupol, Kherson, Kharkiv, other cities? You can take this decision now. Do it,” he wrote.
Why Russian-made jets matter to Ukraine
Ukraine pilots need Soviet/Russian-made jets because they are trained to fly those. Their air defence fleet is primarily made up of MiG-29s and Su-27s. Hence, these would be handier in war than jets from the United States or France.
Members of the Warsaw Pact — Poland, Bulgaria, and Slovakia — continue to use MiG-29s. Hungary also operates these planes. They carry weapons like R-73 short-range and R-27 medium-range air-to-air missiles, which are used by Ukrainian forces, according to a report in The Week.
Roadblocks ahead
A word by the US should instill some confidence in Ukraine but there’s likely to be a logistical problem in sending replacements to Poland and other nations Eastern European allies, reports news agency Associated Press. “These countries would essentially have to give their MiGs to the Ukrainians and accept an IOU from the US for the F-16s. The situation is further complicated because the next shipment of F-16s is set for Taiwan, and Congress would be reluctant to delay those deliveries as it eyes China,” the report said.
Transferring the planes from Poland to Ukraine remains another challenge. The White House, however, has assured that it is in talks with Warsaw and other NATO allies.
The long process
There has lot of back and forth on the deal to send fighter jets to Ukraine. After an earlier announcement by the European Union on 27 February that members would allow Ukrainians access to their used Russian fighter jets, the bloc had to retract its statement. Member nations denied the deal and the EU then clarified that the jets would be donated “bilaterally” by individual EU countries.
Two weeks on, negotiations are still on. Why the reluctance?
Poland has reservations to send its planes to Ukraine because it does not want a reason to provoke Russia. “Poland is not in a state of war with Russia, but it is not an impartial country, because it supports Ukraine as the victim of aggression. It considers, however, that all military matters must be a decision of Nato as a whole,” a Polish official told Financial Times.
On March 1, Polish President Andrzej Duda had said that the country would not send planes to Ukraine. “We are not sending any jets to Ukraine because that would open a military interference in the Ukrainian conflict. We are not joining this conflict,” he had said at a press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
However, it’s been a week since that remark was made, and the situation in Ukraine has only escalated. There’s more urgency now and the words of the Ukrainian foreign minister will not be forgotten: “If we lose the skies, there will be much, much more blood on the ground, and that will be the blood of civilians.”
With inputs from agencies
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.