Live: US rejects Poland’s offer to supply fighter planes to Kyiv

The Pentagon said Tuesday that Poland’s offer to give its MiG-29 fighter jets to the US so they can be passed to Ukraine raises serious concerns for the NATO alliance and the plan is not “a tenable one”.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement that the prospect of jets departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace contested with Russia in the Ukraine war is concerning. He said it’s not clear to the US that there is a substantive rationale for it.

The US, he said, will continue to talk to Poland about the matter.

The plan — published in English on a Polish government website — would have seen Poland give its MiG-29 fleet to Ukraine in exchange for American F-16s. Washington would then have transferred them to Ukraine. 

But in a statement published by the Pentagon, Washington rejected the idea.

“Poland’s proposal shows just some of the complexities this issue presents. The prospect of fighter jets “at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America” departing from a U.S./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 statement said.