The Pentagon on Tuesday rejected Poland’s surprise announcement that it would give the United States its MiG-29 fighter jets for use by Ukraine, a rare display of disharmony by NATO allies seeking to boost Ukrainian fighters while avoiding getting caught up in a wider war with Russia.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Poland’s declaration that it intended to deliver the 28 jets to the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany raised the concerning prospect of warplanes departing from a U.S. and NATO base to fly into airspace contested with Russia in the Ukraine conflict.
“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,” Kirby said in a statement.
The proposed gift of more warplanes would be a morale booster for Ukrainians under pounding Russian assault for nearly two weeks. But it also raises the risk of the war expanding beyond Ukraine.
Russia has declared that supporting Ukraine’s air force would be tantamount to joining the war, and could spur retaliation.
In the meantime Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will meet and discuss the ongoing conflict on March 10 in Turkey’s resort town of Antalya, in the presence of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu upon the two sides’ demand.
“Currently, the 10th [of March] is planned. Let’s see – if he flies to Antalya, then I’ll fly too. Let’s sit down, let’s talk,” Kuleba said in a video message.
The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the eighth Istanbul Mediation Conference ahead of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum slated between March 11 and 13. It will be the first ministerial and highest-level meeting between Ukraine and Russia since the latter started a comprehensive military operation on Feb. 24.
“The meeting, planned to be held on March 10, will be held primarily thanks to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu,” Ukrainian news agency UNIAN quoted Kuleba as saying.
“I do not know whether [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan convinced [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or Lavrov, but the meeting will take place,” he said. /Argumentum.al
