London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Worried Of "High Risk", US Nixes Polish Jet Offer To Ukraine

Worried Of "High Risk", US Nixes Polish Jet Offer To Ukraine

Pentagon spokesman told reporters that "we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force" at this time.

The Pentagon on Wednesday conclusively rejected as too "high risk" a plan to transfer fighter jets from Poland to Kyiv to battle Russian forces, pouring cold water for now on Ukraine's bid for more firepower in the skies.

The scheme -- which the United States said it was actively studying before nixing it over concerns the Kremlin could interpret it as a military escalation -- has proven to be a notable hiccup in the otherwise solid alliance between Washington and European allies over Moscow's invasion.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak earlier Wednesday and thanked him for Warsaw's willingness to cooperate in the effort to assist Ukraine, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

But during the call, Austin "stressed that we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force at this time, and therefore have no desire to see them in our custody," Kirby said.

Warsaw had expressed support for a plan in which Poland would have sent its Soviet-era MiG-29s to Kyiv via a US air base in Ramstein, Germany, with the suggested follow-on step that the United States would backfill Poland's fleet with American F-16 fighter jets.

"That is something that we are not going to explore right now," Kirby said, adding that adding aircraft to Ukraine's fighter fleet was "not likely to significantly change the effectiveness" of the Ukrainian Air Force against Russian capabilities.

Kirby said intelligence agencies had warned that the MiG transfer to Ukraine "may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation" with the NATO alliance.

"Therefore, we also assess the transfer of the MiG-29s to Ukraine to be high risk."

Indeed Moscow warned against the scheme.

"This is a highly undesirable and a potentially dangerous scenario," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

 'Send us planes'


The Pentagon spokesman insisted the best way to support Ukrainian defense is by providing them with weapons systems they need the most, particularly for air defense, that the United States and other nations continue to send Kyiv, and which are "being used with great effect."

That's cold comfort for a Ukraine defending itself against one of the world's premier military powers, as President Volodymyr Zelensky called in vain Wednesday for the jets debate to be favorably resolved.

"When will there be a decision? Look, we're at war!" he said in a video on his Telegram channel. "Send us planes."

Zelensky made the remarks with media reports swirling, after the Pentagon's preliminary rejection Tuesday of the transfer.

"We don't have time for the media, for all these signals," he added. "This isn't ping-pong. It's human lives."

The White House sought to paper over the dispute, with press secretary Jen Psaki describing it as "a temporary breakdown in communications" with the Poles.

Other Western powers also had expressed serious reservations.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, speaking in Berlin alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, signalled his opposition to the jet offer.

Germany has given "significant" financial support to Ukraine, as well as offering humanitarian aid and some weapons, he said.

"Apart from that, we have to think very carefully about what we are doing, and this certainly does not include fighter jets," Scholz added.

Trudeau warned of the risk of "expanding or escalating" the war, saying that while Canada is eager to support Ukrainians, "we need to be mindful of the best way to support them."

Washington meanwhile announced it sent two Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to Poland to defend against any "potential threat" to US or NATO forces in the alliance's territory.

And Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in the country late Wednesday to attend meetings about the war in Ukraine.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×