Poland pushes fighter jet issue over to Nato to decide

Bloomberg

Poland is offering to send its MiG-29 fighter jets to an American base in Germany for Nato to decide what to do with them, as it grapples with public pressure from Ukraine to send in planes to help combat Russia’s air superiority.
The government in Kyiv has repeatedly called for more fighter jets for its pilots, putting Poland in a tricky spot as it seeks to avoid being pulled into a potentially broader conflict with Russia.
The government in Warsaw is now pushing the issue over to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization more broadly to handle. So far the military alliance has been cautious about adding fighters to the weaponry that’s being sent in to support Ukraine’s military. Russia has already warned that doing so would be seen as an act of direct aggression by Nato members.
“It is about providing some transparency,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said Wednesday on local radio. “It is not that Poland wants to make any decisions on its own that may affect Nato security. Likewise, other Nato members should not independently make decisions that may disproportionately affect Poland’s security.”
Poland has also said it would only be willing to send its fighters to the Ramstein air base in Germany if it were to receive replacements from the US, and that is a process that requires multiple steps in Washington for compliance and can in theory take years.
NATO nations — including Poland, Germany and the US —have repeatedly committed themselves to the bloc’s vow to consider an attack on one ally as an attack on all. But Ukraine isn’t part of NATO, which is why nations haven’t been willing to commit forces following Russia’s invasion.
Direct Nato engagement in Ukraine would risk greatly expanding the war. US and European officials have ruled out the creation of a no-fly zone over Ukraine precisely because that would mean confronting and shooting down Russian aircraft.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock sounded a cautious note on the prospect of any fighter jets being sent into Ukraine.
“Looking at the carriers, it sounds so easy, just send them,” she said on Bild TV. “But these carriers have to be able to fly. Only Soviet carriers can be delivered.”
If European countries send those in, they would be leaving themselves without fighters at home, she added.
“Poland wants to act within the Nato, not unilaterally,” Jakub Kumoch, a foreign policy aide to President Andrzej Duda, said on local television on Wednesday. “The offer was made to us in a public way, so we also responded publicly.”
Poland has borne the brunt so far of the exodus of people from Ukraine as they flee the conflict, setting up refugee centers near the border and delivering humanitarian aid from international organizations.
Giving up its 28 Soviet-era MIG-29 jets would leave Polish armed forces with just 48 F-16 warplanes.
“Poland’s proposal shows just some of the complexities this issue presents,” John Kirby, a Defense Department spokesman, said in a statement.
“The prospect of fighter jets ‘at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America’ departing from a US/Nato base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire Nato alliance,” Kirby said. “It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it.”
Victoria Nuland, the Undersecretary of State for political affairs, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that she didn’t think the Polish statement was coordinated with Washington. Pressed on that point, she said “I think that actually was a surprise move by the Poles.”