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The US assesses that Poland’s proposal to transfer its fleet of Soviet-designed fighter jets to Ukraine would not result in any “significant effectiveness” for the Ukrainian military against Russia, a US defence official told Congress on Thursday.
“We are trying to provide everything we can that really helps them with air defence and we don’t see significant effectiveness tied to those aeroplanes specifically,” Mara Karlin, the assistant secretary of defence for strategy, told the Senate.
“We’re really focusing in particular on what we see is them needing most: anti-armour and air defence capabilities. Ukraine’s air force does have several squadrons of mission-capable aircraft in this contested airspace but what we are seeing is that they really need greater air defence.”
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Helena, right, and her brother Bodia, from Lviv, wait at the Medyka border crossing in eastern Poland. AFP -
A brother and sister share a bowl of soup after they and their mother fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine and crossed the border at Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Nadia, a Ukrainian woman, walks around with her baby in a car park in Przemysl, Poland as she waits for help with transport and accommodation. Reuters -
A woman searches through donated clothes for useful items after she and her children fled the Russian invasion in Ukraine and crossed the border in Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Oksana, 30, holds a seven-day-old child after arriving by bus at a rendezvous point organised to help Ukrainian refugees with accommodation and transport to different cities in Poland. Reuters -
Refugees wait for help in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
People wait in a Polish car park to help refugees arriving from Ukraine. Reuters -
A father kisses his daughter after she, her mother and grandmother fled from the Russian invasion in Ukraine and crossed the border in Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Refugees wait for help in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Ukrainian refugees in the town of Maroz near Olsztyn, Poland. EPA -
A Ukrainian refugee in the town of Maroz, Poland. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees in the town of Maroz, northern Poland. EPA -
Hospital employees and volunteers make hundreds of beds to prepare for an influx of Ukrainian refugees in Rzeszow, Poland. AP -
Ukrainian refugees who arrived by evening train from Kiev to Warsaw are helped at the Warszawa Wschodnia railway station in the Polish capital. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive by train from Kiev at the Warszawa Wschodnia station in Warsaw. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive by train from Kiev to Warsaw, Poland. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive from the Medyka border crossing in eastern Poland. AFP -
A man hugs a child at the Polish-Ukrainian border crossing in Medyka, Poland. Getty
Ms Karlin also said that the US has not seen Ukraine using its current fleet of fighter jets “to the extent that one might suggest".
Still, Ukraine has specifically requested more fighter jets and the Ukrainian military could integrate the 28 MiG-29s that Poland has offered into its current fleet, given its heavy reliance on Soviet-era weapons systems.
But the Polish fleet has been upgraded several times, which could potentially require Ukrainian pilots to undergo training on how to use the more advanced aircraft.
Poland blindsided Washington with an announcement this week that it would turn over custody of its MiG-29 fleet to the US at a Nato base in Germany.
The surprise announcement, made without consulting Washington, happened right as Vice President Kamala Harris travelled to Warsaw.
The US military is unaccustomed to operating Soviet-designed technology and the Pentagon said that the Polish proposal is “not tenable”.
“At this point, we are consulting very closely with Poland and our other Nato allies on the best way forward,” said Jessica Lewis, the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, while speaking before the Senate alongside Ms Karlin.
And while Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that he had given US Nato allies the “green light” to transfer fighter jets to Ukraine, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told the Senate on Tuesday that “there are some mixed views among allies and even within the administration” on transferring the Polish fleet.
Mr Blinken said on Wednesday that the US would have to “work through” the MiG-29 transfer with Poland and Ukraine.
And Ms Karlin on Thursday pushed back against Poland’s expectation that the US should enable any potential transfer rather than providing the aircraft directly to Ukraine itself.
“There are a whole lot of logistics that would have to happen should Poland wish to transfer them,” said Ms Karlin.
“Should they wish to do so, it is up to them, rather than of course then them going through us.”
Still, Republican and Democratic senators alike pushed back against President Joe Biden administration's hesitancy over the MiG-29 issue and told Ms Karlin that they needed more specific information as to why the Pentagon views transferring fighter jets to Ukraine as less effective than land-based air defence systems.
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The Empire State Building in New York lights up with the colours of Ukraine in a show of solidarity. Photo: Empire State Building -
Zac Haycock stands in front of the Utah State Capitol, which is lit in blue and yellow in support of Ukraine. AP -
The I-35W Bridge glows blue and yellow in support of the people of Ukraine in Minneapolis, Minnesota. EPA -
Demonstrators hold flags and a sign during a 'Stand with Ukraine' rally in front of the White House in Washington. Reuters -
Protesters gather at Town Square in Jackson, Wyoming, to show solidarity with Ukraine amid the Russian invasion. Several of the protesters were native Ukrainians with family in the country. AP -
People protest outside the UN in New York against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
US first lady Jill Biden wears a mask with a sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine. AFP -
An American flag unfurls off a pedicab as it glides past the Denver City/County Building, which is illuminated in yellow and blue in support of Ukraine. AP -
Kristina Ulyanenko protests the Russian attack on Ukraine at the state capitol in Austin, Texas. AP -
Flowers and messages are piled together outside the Ukrainian embassy in Washington. AP -
The Paramount Miami Worldcentre skyscraper in Florida lights up blue and yellow. Paramount Miami Worldcentre via AP -
A store in Lewiston, Maine, programmed its 11-metre light tower to dance through a series of blinking yellow and blue lights that eventually come together to form the colors of the flag of Ukraine. AP -
Joni Ernst, a Republican senator from Iowa, wears a brooch in the colours of Ukraine during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing at the US Capitol. EPA -
Protesters listen to speakers as they gather for a rally in support of Ukraine at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City. AP -
Dmytro Stasyshen of Ukraine holds a sign to protest the Russian invasion during a rally in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles. AP -
Evergy Plaza in Topeka, Kansas, will be lit in blue and yellow lights. AP -
People dine inside Veselka restaurant where a Ukrainian flag hangs in the East Village in New York. AP
Democrat Jeanne Shaheen criticised “bickering among members” of the Biden administration and called on the Pentagon and State Department to provide Congress with a “better answer” as to its stance on the MiG-29 transfer.
Republican Mitt Romney said that the Biden administration has not provided any “logic” for “the lack of rapidity in making this decision and getting in the mix” while suggesting a classified briefing to receive more answers would be helpful.
Bob Menendez, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, implied that he could use his jurisdiction over arms sales as leverage to procure more answers from the Biden administration on the MiG-29 issue — raising the prospect that he could hold up arms sales to other countries over Ukraine.
“There may be a perfectly valid and good reason, I think all of us should know,” said Mr Menendez.
“If there is no perfectly valid and good reason, then we need to know that, too.”
Correction: A quote by Mara Karlin was misattributed to Jessica Lewis in an earlier version of this story. The attribution has been updated to reflect the appropriate speaker.
