Around a dozen transporters with Western weapons land at a secret airport in Ukraine every day. Poland proposes deploying MiGs through the US base at Ramstein. There is no lack of support, but when does this turn into participation in the war?
What is when a war participation and by whom and how? Most of the members of NATO and their allied and partner states are currently faced with this tangle of questions. Because Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has declared his invasion of Ukraine to be a kind of “private matter” between himself and his neighbor. According to the Kremlin chief, any form of interference in this “special operation” will have unprecedented consequences. His words were nothing more than a threat to use nuclear weapons against anyone who will come to the aid of Ukraine. Would Putin take this ultimate step? Not clear. But the threat is there.
US has ‘concerns’ about Polish jets
As a result, even the US is reluctant to do anything that might give the appearance of “too much” support for Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Warsaw specifically to talk to the Polish government about their proposal to indirectly send combat aircraft to Ukraine. The United States has “serious objections” to the idea of the Poles. The difference of opinion shows once again how sensitive, complex and dangerous possible aid for the attacked country is or can become.
Specifically, it is a statement by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the government in Warsaw is ready to move all of its MiG-29 combat aircraft to the US Ramstein Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate immediately and free of charge and to make the machines available to Ukraine . The Pentagon in Washington says that allowing Ukraine to have Polish fighter jets is ultimately a matter for the Polish government. Nevertheless, the idea that fighter jets handed over to the US military were flying from a US or NATO base in Germany into contested Ukrainian airspace during the war with Russia “raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance”, said a Pentagon spokesman.
German missiles for Ukraine
Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, NATO and its member states made it clear that they would not intervene militarily in the conflict, but at the same time wanted to support the Kiev government with money and arms supplies. After a fundamental U-turn in foreign policy, Germany decided to also help Ukraine with military equipment. According to the Kiev government, 500 German Panzerfaust, 500 “Stinger” anti-aircraft missiles, armored vehicles and more than 20,000 protective helmets have already been delivered. Altogether, on average, a dozen transport planes full of Western weapons land at an airport in Ukraine, the location of which is kept secret.
In Moscow, the armament of the non-NATO country is unsurprisingly viewed with suspicion. On the fringes of peace negotiations in Turkey, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeatedly accused the West of exacerbating the conflict by supplying arms. Is this the kind of interference in the war that so many sides fear?
“Arms deliveries are okay in a way. You don’t trigger a conventional war for that. Both potential opponents understand that you are supporting the war party, which represents your side, with weapons,” military expert Franz-Stefan Gady said in a recent interview with the star. According to Gady, this practice developed in the countless proxy wars between NATO, Russia and the former Soviet Union. But the boundaries of this type of tacit agreement are fluid and dependent on the particular situation.
Baerbock: We don’t take part in the war
For example, Warsaw is not planning any direct deliveries of the aircraft to neighboring Ukraine, because that could be understood by Russia as a direct intervention in the war. “Decisions on the delivery of offensive weapons must be made unanimously at NATO level,” said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Annalena Baerbock made a similar statement: One must ensure that this war does not spread to NATO territory, said the Federal Foreign Minister. Even with arms deliveries, there shouldn’t be a steep template for saying “we’re taking part in the war.”
Russia itself leaves no doubt that it would consider attacks on its own armed forces by Ukrainian planes from other countries as interference in an armed conflict. The West also rejects the creation of a no-fly zone for similar reasons. Because in order to enforce this, NATO jets or rockets would have to fight Russian military machines. A more open declaration of war would hardly be conceivable.
However, it is unclear how the warring parties will react to the announced transfer of American “Patriot” anti-aircraft missiles to Poland. At the request of the government in Warsaw, the systems are stationed in Poland as “purely defensive use,” according to the Pentagon. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry of Defense announced that Patriot anti-aircraft missiles would be deployed to Slovakia. The Kremlin had perceived similar weapon deployments as a threat in the past. How the almost unavoidable rearmament spiral will affect the further course of the war is completely open. Military expert Gady said: War is always a kind of its own nature “that you can never really control as a political or military decision-maker”.
Sources: DPA, AFP, “”, “”
Source: Stern
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