US does not support transfer of fighter jets to Ukraine, says Pentagon

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday that the United States does not support the transfer of combat aircraft to Ukraine. The declaration comes after Poland made all its MIG-19 fighters available to the US Air Force to supply Ukrainian troops.

The idea put forward by Poland was too risky, Kirby said, as the US and NATO seek to avoid direct conflict between the alliance and Russia.

Last Tuesday (8), the Polish government said it was ready to deploy — immediately and free of charge — all of its MIG-29 fighter jets at the US Air Force’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany and make them available to Washington. to supply them to Ukraine.

“At this point we believe that more fighters would represent a very small capacity increase and a very large risk,” said Kirby. The Pentagon spokesman also thanked Poland for the effort and stressed that sending the fighter jets to Ukraine would be a “possibility of irritation to Russia”.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Polish Defense Minister that the US does not support the transfer of the fighter jets to the Ukrainian air force “at this time”, either by Poland transferring them to Ukraine with the US filling Poland’s fleet or by Poland transferring the MIG-29s to the US and then delivering them to Poland.

“He emphasized that we do not support the transfer of additional fighter jets to the Ukrainian air force at this time and therefore do not wish to see them in our custody either,” the Pentagon spokesman said.

Austin and the Polish defense minister spoke by phone Wednesday morning after the Pentagon released a public statement last night saying it did not believe the Polish proposal to transfer the MIG-29s to a US military base in Germany was a “sustainable” option.