Poland reports US support
Selenskyj demands delivery of fighter jets again
3/27/2022 3:03 am
So far, NATO has prevented its member Poland from handing over fighter jets to Ukraine for the war against Russia. Poland is now claiming that the United States now has “no longer any objections” to these deliveries – and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy continues to insist.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again called on the international community to supply heavy weapons. Both in a video conference with the Polish head of state Andrzej Duda on Saturday and in a video message broadcast on Sunday night, he called for combat aircraft and tanks for the Ukrainian armed forces. “Ukraine cannot shoot down Russian missiles with shotguns and machine guns,” he said. And the heavily contested port city of Mariupol, for example, could not be liberated without sufficient stocks of tanks, heavy equipment and aircraft.
Selenskyj had previously asked his Polish colleague Duda for heavy weapons. He warned that without supplying fighter jets and tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian military could pose a subsequent threat to NATO’s neighboring countries.
“If Ukraine’s partners don’t help Ukraine with planes and tanks, and they have these opportunities, then there is a high risk that the Russian army will pose a missile threat not only to the territories of our neighbors – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic States – but also a direct general military threat,” said Zelenskyy, according to the official website of the Ukrainian President.
“The ball is now in Poland’s court”
Some time ago, Poland hinted at a possible indirect transfer of its Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets to the Ukrainian armed forces. In order not to hand over the jets directly to Ukraine, the aircraft should first be handed over to the US armed forces. This move was rejected by the United States. Such a measure could lead to a direct confrontation between NATO forces and the Russian military, which could lead to an escalation of the war, the reasoning said.
Ukraine, on the other hand, announced that the United States now had “no longer any objections” to Poland supplying fighter jets to Ukraine. This was announced by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to the AFP news agency on Saturday. He added: “The ball is now in Poland’s court.”
Kuleba met US President Joe Biden in Poland on Saturday. The meeting was attended by the foreign and defense ministers of Ukraine and the United States. It was Biden’s first face-to-face meeting with senior government officials in Kyiv since the Ukraine war began on February 24.
With regard to the fighter jets, Kuleba now explained that this question should now be discussed further with the Polish side. “But I want to make it clear: Ukraine absolutely needs more combat aircraft.” A “balance” must be established in the airspace in order to prevent Russia from further air attacks. This question must be clarified “as soon as possible”.