The Pentagon said Wednesday that the US does not support sending Polish warplanes to Ukraine since the move is too “high risk” and would not significantly improve Ukraine’s ability to fight Russia.
“We assess that adding aircraft to the Ukrainian inventory is not likely to significantly change the effectiveness of the Ukrainian air force relative to Russian capabilities. Therefore, we believe that the gain from transferring those MiG-29s is low,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
“The intelligence community has assessed the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken as escalatory, and could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO. Therefore, we also assess the transfer of the MiG-29s to Ukraine to be high-risk,” he said.
Earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Poland had the “green light” to send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine despite the obvious risk of escalation with Russia. Poland responded by offering to send the aircraft to a US base in Germany, giving Washington the option to send the planes to Ukraine.
“Polish generosity is clearly on display for the whole world to see. But at this time, we believe the provision of additional fighter aircraft provides little increased capabilities at high risk,” Kirby said.
Yeah, that’s what the Pentagon says. Now where is Biden on this?
There is clearly a fight between the neocons who sent that letter pushing the no-fly zone and the Pentagon over any such suggestion which includes the provision of jets.
Why is the White House silent?
Because there is nobody home?…
LOL Poland gets cold feet again. In other words, the US is now saying that it was all Poland’s idea! And Poland says, “Hell, no! It was your idea!”
Poland points finger at US, NATO over fighter jets delivery to Ukraine
https://www.rt.com/news/551559-poland-nato-ukraine-aircraft/
The delivery must be approved by the whole bloc, and Washington in particular, Morawiecki insisted.
“Such a serious decision as the handover of planes must be a
unanimous and unambiguous decision made by the entire NATO. Today, this decision is in the hands of NATO, in the hands of the Americans,” the PM stated….
On Tuesday, Warsaw said it was ready to hand over its MiG-29 fleet
“immediately and free of charge” to a NATO base in Germany for a
subsequent transfer to Ukraine. In return, Poland urged the US to supply
western-made “used aircraft with corresponding operational
capabilities.”
The idea, however, was met with skepticism in Washington, with top US
officials warning the move would risk dragging NATO directly into the
ongoing conflict.
“The prospect of fighter jets ‘at the disposal of the Government of
the United States of America’ departing from a US/NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby has said.
At the same time, the official suggested Warsaw was free to deliver
its jets to Ukraine on its own, stating the decision was “ultimately one
for the Polish government.” Earlier, a similar stance was voiced by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said that the NATO nations willing to supply Ukraine with aircraft and other weaponry had “a green light” for that.
Russia won’t forget who helped Ukraine with weapons transfers and sanctions. Poland should have gotten cold feet a couple of weeks ago.
Just an educated guess. The U.S. would much rather give brand new U.S.-made Jets to Ukraine through the State Department Foreign Military Fund so that our MIC benefits. I mean, if the U.S. can’t profit from this war, what’s the point? Same for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is at least temporarily on ice. If the U.S. can’t profit, what’s the point?
But they were going to replace Poland’s donated jets with brand new US made jets, so the profits were there either way.
Not only that, Poland is supposed to get F-35’s in 2024.
Acts which tend to continue this war are not in our nation’s interest.
I think that is a fair statement Dieter, the problem is that war seems to always be in their interest (not ours, theirs)…
On NBC, the former ambassador to Ukraine recommended implementing a no fly zone over Ukraine. When reminded that could start WWIII, she said we can be “careful.” …What’s that? …You don’t believe me? Ok, at the risk of losing your breakfast, here is the clip:
https://www.nbc.com/today/video/putin-miscalculated-he-thought-this-would-be-a-cakewalk-former-ambassador/931525874
That’s the thing with neocons. They always think they can “finesse” the problem. Like how Iraqi oil would pay for the Iraq invasion, so we didn’t have to worry about the cost.
Okay, so they don’t support sending Polish jets to Ukraine… But is there another country whose jets they might send?… I do find Kirby’s last quote to be rather disingenuous…
Is Britain the most Russophobic country after Eukraine ?
It appears the British regime is committed to “operation unthinkable.”
They seem obsessed by the idea since 1945. Read the following documents before they remove them: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/cold-war-on-file/operation-unthinkable/
“Report from the British Military leaders to Prime Minister Winston Churchill on the chances of ‘Operation Unthinkable’ -a surprise attack on the USSR, 22 May 1945.“
Initially, I read “We asses”, not “we assess”…
Much more accurate.
The Pentagon is sometimes smarter than Foggy Bottom, which isn’t saying much.