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Poland is willing to hand its Mig-29 fighter jets to the US, its Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, under a reported scheme that would lead to the planes being given to Ukraine.
"Poland ... is ready to deliver its Mig-29 planes to Ramstein airbase [in Germany] and make them available to the US for free and without delay," the Polish government said.
Under the reported deal, Poland would receive F-16 fighters as replacements for the Soviet-era planes, in which Ukrainian pilots are trained.
The decision was not made after consultation with Washington, State Department undersecretary Victoria Nuland said on Tuesday, although the US had been discussing Ukraine's broader request for Polish aircraft.
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland called the MiG-29 transfer to “a surprise move by the Poles” during her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee shortly after the announcement.
“I was in a meeting where I ought to have heard about that just before I came,” said Ms Nuland.
However, she noted that “there are some mixed views among allies and even within the administration” about transferring the MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.
“I will continue to convey the very strong bipartisan view of this [Senate] committee that these planes need to get to Ukraine,” Ms Nuland vowed.
US officials, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, had played down the possibility of any Nato country supplying besieged Ukraine.
But in Moldova on Sunday, Mr Blinken confirmed it was under active discussion.
"Can't speak to a timeline, but I can just say we're looking at it very, very actively," he said.
"We are looking actively now at the question of aeroplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decide to supply those planes."
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A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the vertical tail fin of a Russian Su-34 bomber lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
An apartment building damaged after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo -
A woman puts her head in her hands as she sits on a cot in a shelter, set up for displaced persons fleeing Ukraine, inside a school gymnasium in Przemysl, Poland. AP Photo -
Belarussian and suspected Russian helicopters on the flight line at Machulishchy Air Base outside Minsk, Belarus. AP Photo -
Children look on as people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine shelter in a school, in Drohobych, Ukraine. Reuters -
Families eat in the shelter. Reuters -
A woman looks out from a building damaged by Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, 100 kilometres away from Odesa, western Ukraine. AFP -
A wounded Ukrainian man waits in the corridor of the central hospital of Mykolaiv. AFP -
An elderly woman is carried in a shopping cart after being rescued from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A woman reacts as a train carrying children from Kyiv's Central Children's Hospital leaves the Ukrainian capital on its way to Lviv. Reuters -
A girl sits in an improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP -
An elderly woman is coated in snow as she sits in a wheelchair after being rescued from Irpin. AP -
Belarusian volunteers take part in military exercises at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv. AP -
Lessa, left, director of a nursery school turned into a refugee shelter, cries as she hugs Olega, who arrived from Kyiv with her baby, near Lviv. EPA -
Ukrainians pass a damaged bridge as they flee from Irpin. AP -
A man carries an elderly woman as people continue to leave Irpin. AP -
A soldier stands on a barricade made of sandbags in central Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters -
A charred Russian tank and captured tanks in the Sumy region. Reuters -
People rest at a temporary shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Przemysl, Poland. AFP -
Ukraine's ambassador to the Netherlands, Maksym Kononenko, third right, and his wife Tetiana Doroshenko, fourth left, attend a meeting of members of the Ukrainian community with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, third left, and Queen Maxima, second left, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, in The Hague. EPA -
A Ukrainian soldier looks at the destruction after shelling in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv. AFP -
A refugee holds her dog as they wait for trains to Poland in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A woman ties ribbons in Ukrainian national flag colours in a girl's hair as people wait at a refugee assistance centre in Prague, Czech Republic. EPA -
A Ukrainian soldier carries an elderly woman crossing the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
Lena, who had never left Ukraine before fleeing into Moldova, feeds Dasha, 3, soon after crossing the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National -
Refugees without immediate plans to move further inland can stay the night in tents set up on Moldova's side of the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National -
Tatiana and her son wait for a van that will carry them from the Moldovan border to Chisinau. Erin Clare Brown for The National -
Each night, the Palanca refugee camp in Moldova feeds up to 300 people who arrive with no onward plans. Erin Clare Brown for The National -
People pass a damaged bridge while fleeing the town of Irpin, close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier stands guard next to a church in Irpin. EPA -
A firefighter holds the baby of a Ukrainian refugee at the border in Romania. AP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint in Kyiv. AP -
Ukrainian activist Ihor Mazur, left, a veteran of the war in the country's east, looks at a night-vision device in Kyiv. AP -
Ambassadors attend a UN Security Council meeting on threats to international security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in New York. Reuters -
Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergey Kyslytsya holds a paper with an image of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as he addresses the Security Council in New York. Reuters -
A road sign put up in support of Mr Zelenskyy outside Russia's embassy in Washington. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine. EPA -
Lethal and non-lethal Ukrainian aid is loaded on to a plane bound for Poland by Canadian soldiers in Trenton, Ontario. Reuters -
Volunteers carry medical aid and necessities at a train station in Lviv. EPA -
Everton players wear T-shirts in support of Ukraine as they warm up for an English Premier League football match against Tottenham Hotspur. AP -
A residential building damaged by Russian shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A man walks past a checkpoint in heavy snow in Lviv. Getty -
A man fleeing fighting in Irpin waits to cross a river after Russian forces entered the city. Getty -
Soldiers assist Irpin residents underneath a damaged bridge as they flee. Getty -
Ukrainian civilians who volunteered to join the Territorial Defence Forces take part in a training exercise in Odesa after Russia's invasion. Reuters -
Men carry a body to a lorry as people flee from the frontline town of Irpin. EPA -
A Ukrainian police officer runs with a child as the sound of shelling echoes nearby in Irpin. AP -
Parents and children struggle to board a train in Lviv. AP
Senator Chris Murphy called it “a curious decision by Poland to announce their gifts of several hundred million-dollars worth of jets to the United States without alerting us first".
“They would be the more natural direct partner with Ukraine, given that these are MiG jets that the Poles know how to use and will ultimately have to help transfer to the Ukrainians. And I look forward to consultations that we will have with them about their recent announcement.”
The comments came a day after Mr Blinken met Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on the Poland-Ukraine border and the minister pressed him for the aircraft.
"The highest demand that we have is in fighter jets, attack aircraft and air-defence systems," Mr Kuleba said.
"If we lose the skies, there will be much more blood on the ground."
“They would be the more natural direct partner with Ukraine, given that these are MiG jets that the Poles know how to use and will ultimately have to help transfer to the Ukrainians. And I look forward to consultations that we will have with them about their recent announcement.”
Bryant Harris contributed to this reporting
