US dismisses Polish plan to provide fighter jets
to be sent to Ukraine
Poles believed to have 28 Soviet-era jets they hope
the US will replace with newer planes – but Pentagon says plan ‘not tenable’
Julian
Borger in Washington and Patrick Wintour in London
Tue 8 Mar
2022 23.38 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/08/poland-mig-29-jets-us-ukraine
Poland has
said it will hand over its MiG-29 fighter jets to the US, in a move which
appeared to take Washington by surprise and was quickly dismissed by the
Pentagon.
The Polish
foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, said his government was “ready to deploy –
immediately and free of charge – all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein airbase
and place them at the disposal of the government of the United States of
America”.
But the
Pentagon appeared to reject the proposal, saying it was not “tenable”.
In a
statement, the US Department of Defense said the prospect of the jets departing
from the base “to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine
raises serious concerns for the entire Nato alliance”.
“We will
continue to consult with Poland and our other Nato allies about this issue and
the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s
proposal is a tenable one,” John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said.
Poland is
thought to have 28 of the Soviet-era warplanes, and had been in negotiation
with the Biden administration on a three-way deal in which Warsaw would gave
the planes to Ukraine, on condition that the US would provide the Polish air
force with newer US fighters.
“Poland
requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding
operational capabilities,” Rau said in a statement on his ministry’s website.
“Poland is ready to immediately establish the conditions of purchase of the
planes.”
Rau
requested other Nato allies with MiG-29 jets – a reference to Slovakia and
Bulgaria – “act in the same vein”.
By handing
them to the US, Poland was hoping to mitigate the risk of direct retaliation
from Russia.
However,
the US under secretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, said
the Polish announcement had taken Washington unawares, calling it a “surprise
move by the Poles”.
“To my
knowledge, it wasn’t pre-consulted with us that they plan to give these planes
to us,” Nuland told Congress. “I look forward when this hearing is over to
getting back to my desk and seeing how we will respond to this proposal of
theirs to give the planes to us.”
The idea of
donating old warplanes to Ukraine was raised on 27 February by the EU foreign
and security policy chief, Josep Borrell, who declared: “We are going to
provide even fighter jets.” That announcement annoyed Polish officials, who
said Warsaw was not properly consulted over a move that could expose the country
to risk.
The Russian
defence ministry did not address the issue directly but warned that any country
that provided air fields for Ukrainian warplanes that were later used against
Russians would be considered by Moscow as being involved in the conflict.
Polish thinking is that when the planes are delivered to Ukrainian pilots, they
will be taking off from an air base in Germany as US assets.
The
incident has exposed cracks in the Nato alliance which the Biden administration
has struggled to keep in lockstep in the face of the Russian invasion. Vice
President Kamala Harris is due to hold talks with the Polish government in
Warsaw on Thursday where she will attempt to repair some of the diplomatic
damage.The US said on Tuesday that it was deploying two of its Patriot
antimissile batteries to Poland to help protect Nato troops and territory. The
deployment is intended to provide a layer of protection against the Ukraine
conflict spilling over the country’s western border.
“This
defensive deployment is being conducted proactively to counter any potential
threat to US and allied forces and Nato territory,” the US European Command
said in a statement.
Poland
announced its plan as US officials said the war in Ukraine had reached a
pivotal moment, with Russia sustaining severe losses but with Putin determined
to press on.
“I think
the next couple of days are going to be critical for both the humanitarian
situation and also for the tide of this war,” Michael Carpenter, the US
ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
told the Guardian.
US
intelligence agencies told Congress on Tuesday that they tentatively estimated
that 2,000 to 4,000 Russian soldiers had been killed so far, but that Putin
would persevere in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.
“We assess
Putin feels aggrieved the west does not give him proper deference and perceives
this as a war he cannot afford to lose,” the US director of national
intelligence, Avril Haines, told the House intelligence committee.
Carpenter
quoted the Ukrainian foreign minister as saying Ukraine will win – but at what
price?
“I think
that is the question that we’re all asking ourselves, and what can we possibly
do to get humanitarian relief to those in need, and to force the Russians to
abide by some sort of ceasefire and respect for humanitarian corridors,” he
said.
But
Carpenter cautioned: “I have to say it’s so difficult because the cynicism on
the Russian side is just unbelievable.”
The CIA
director, William Burns, predicted “an ugly next few weeks” in Ukraine, in
which the Russian leader would escalate the war “with scant regard for civilian
casualties”.
UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT<br>A
member of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces, the military reserve of the
Ukrainian Armed Forces, stands guard next to anti-tank obstacles in the center
of Kyiv on March 7, 2022. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP) (Photo by SERGEI
SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Haines said
US officials believe Putin “is unlikely to be deterred … and instead may
escalate – essentially doubling down to achieve Ukrainian disarmament and
neutrality to prevent it from further integrating with the US and Nato if it
doesn’t reach some diplomatic negotiation”.
Carpenter
said that US and allied weapons supplies were still getting through to the
Ukrainian army.
“I don’t
want to get into too many specifics as to how we’re getting our security
assistance to the Ukrainians who are using it, but I can tell you that that
pipeline is open, and we’re dedicated to giving them what they need to be able
to defend themselves,” he said.
The
Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelenskiy has placed great importance on the
delivery of fighter jets, but US officials and military experts have expressed
scepticism over how decisive MiG-29s can be, particularly as Russian forces
have substantial anti-aircraft missile systems.
“I don’t
want to focus too much on one particular system. Ukraine has a lot of needs,”
Carpenter said. “Certainly combat aircraft could help but there’s a lot of
other systems that could be useful in terms of degrading Russian air power and
preventing the vast bulk of the civilian casualties, which are resulting from
long-range fires.”
A senior US
defence official said that Russian armed forces were stepping up their pressure
on Kyiv, with intensified bombing to disrupt life in the capital and possibly
lay the groundwork for a full-scale assault.
The US
assesses Russia has lost about 5% of the tanks, artillery and other military
equipment it brought into Ukraine, and that it still has the “vast majority” of
its short-range, surface-to-air missiles and artillery available.
The US
official also said the Pentagon believes Russia has prepared up to 11 tank
landing ships in the Black Sea for future amphibious assaults on the Ukrainian
coast.
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