Poland said Tuesday it would give all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to the U.S., potentially advancing an arrangement that would allow the warplanes to be passed along to Ukraine’s military as it confronts invading Russian forces.
The United States did not immediately confirm the deal, although Western nations have been discussing possible ways to answer Ukraine’s appeal for warplanes. Any such decision would be a morale booster for Ukraine as Russian attacks on its cities deepen the humanitarian catastrophe.
But it also raises the risks of a wider war. The Pentagon had no immediate comment on Poland’s announcement, and a senior U.S. diplomat expressed surprise. “To my knowledge, it wasn’t pre-consulted with us that they plan to get these planes to us,” said U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland, who told lawmakers she learned of the proposal as she was driving to testify about the Ukraine crisis before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“I saw that announcement by the government of Poland as I was literally driving here today,” Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of State for political affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.
“To my knowledge, it wasn’t pre-consulted with us that they planned to give these planes to us,” she said. “But as you know, we have been having consultations with them for a couple of days now about this request from the Ukrainians to receive their aircraft and were they to donate them, whether we would be able to help support backfill in their own security needs.
“I was in a meeting where I ought to have about that just before I came,” Nuland said. “So I think that actually was a surprise move by the Poles.” Poland offered to send all of its Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets “immediately and free of charge” to the U.S. airbase in Ramstein, Germany.
