“We only deliver defensive weapons,” stressed Poland’s head of government. The Polish Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it could bring MiG-29 fighter jets “free of charge and immediately” to the US base in Ramstein in Germany.
The move suggests that the US could then supply the Soviet fighter jets to Ukraine, whose pilots are trained on the type. However, the US refused. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday evening that flying fighter jets from a US-NATO base into contested Ukrainian airspace “gives the entire NATO alliance cause for serious concern.” The proposal is not “sustainable” and entails “difficult logistical challenges”, and there are “serious concerns” about the geopolitical dimension.
Video: The statement by Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP)
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has again called on Western countries to supply MiG-29 fighter jets. “Make a decision as soon as possible, send us planes!” Zelenskyy said in a video published on his Telegram channel on Wednesday. A corresponding proposal by the Polish government must be “processed immediately”. At the same time, he urged a no-fly zone over his country.
If the international community does not set up the no-fly zone, it will be responsible for a “humanitarian catastrophe,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address. “Russia uses missiles, planes and helicopters against us, against civilians, against our cities, against our infrastructure. It is the world’s humanitarian duty to respond.” The threat level in Ukraine is at a maximum. However, the Ukrainians have shown in the past two weeks that they would never give up.
Video: The statement of the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
According to military expert Franz-Stefan Gady, the debate about the delivery of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine “lacks any military logic”. The delivery to Ukraine is “insanely difficult” and it is also “extremely dangerous” to go into a direct confrontation with Russia, the expert from the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said on Wednesday in the Ö1-Morgenjournal. Air defense systems would be more important for the Ukrainian armed forces. The planes have “little military value,” Gady said. The MiG fighter jets are suitable for air combat. But the last twelve days would have shown: “The big dogfights don’t take place here.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned against interference by other states in Ukraine. In a phone call to US senators on Saturday, Zelenskyi made a “desperate request” for planes, according to American sources. As the majority leader of the Democrats in the Congress Chamber, Chuck Schumer, explained in Washington, Zelenskyj wanted Russian-made machines from Eastern European countries. “These planes are needed very badly.” He will do everything to facilitate their transfer, Schumer said.
Source: Nachrichten
