The US on Wednesday rejected an offer by Poland to send all of its Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine through an American airbase in Germany.
Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby has said, “The prospect of fighter jets at the disposal of the US government departing from a US or NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance.”
The US was caught off guard by Poland’s offer, which came in response to Ukraine’s growing calls for Western allies to supply it with military jets to help fight Russia’s invasion, the BBC reported.
Military analyst Col Brendan Kearney told the BBC that he was “perplexed with the approach the Polish are taking”.
He said “the Ukrainian pilots could literally walk across the border into Poland and fly them back into Ukraine”, which “seems like a much easier, much smarter move.”
“The long-term ultimate goal of getting additional MiG-29s into Ukrainian hands is a noble one, it’s a good one, but we’ve got to have people sitting down who know what they’re talking about and coming up with a plan that is executable,” Col Kearney added.