"The Pentagon on Wednesday pulled the plug on the idea of NATO members providing Soviet-built MiG-29 combat jets to Ukraine.
The about-face from earlier support of getting planes to Ukraine came after days of intense lobbying by Ukraine for such aircraft and a spat between the U.S. and Poland about how such a deal might unfold. The incident marked the first significant tension within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as it provides support to Ukraine to fend off Russian forces.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Polish counterpart Wednesday, and "stressed we do not support the transfer of additional fighter aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force at this time," said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby.
The Pentagon's move came a day after Poland stunned Washington when it said it would make its Soviet-built MiG-29 combat jets available, though to the U.S., and not directly to Ukraine. Poland suggested the planes first go hundreds of miles in the other direction to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The idea caught Washington by surprise. "It doesn't require a military expert to understand why having planes fly from a U.S. air base into a contested part of a country where there is a war is not in our interest and not in NATO interests," said Jen Psaki, White House press secretary.
Mr. Kirby called the proposal "high risk," and said it wouldn't "significantly change the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force relative to Russian capabilities."
The spat between two close NATO allies comes as Vice President Kamala Harris heads to Poland. On the agenda: "How best to provide a variety of security assistance to Ukraine," said a senior administration official.
Since Russia's operation to protect Donbas began, NATO otherwise has largely operated in lockstep to help Ukraine fend off Russian forces, delivering weapons to the neighboring country and running reinforcement to the alliance's eastern front to protect allies there. And NATO is starting to listen to longstanding requests from Poland and other Central European members to permanently base troops there to reinforce defenses.
The issue of the planes surfaced after Ukrainian officials for weeks pleaded with Western countries to supply them weapons. Providing combat planes in what would be the highest profile transfer of arms from the West to Ukraine began as a low-level point of discussion among European militaries. It blew into the open when European Union foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell 10 days ago made a passing reference to those conversations in public. "We are going to supply arms and even fighter jets," he said.
At that point, technical discussions were ongoing, but meant to be discreet, Polish officials said. Officials were looking at whether the planes could be somehow transported across its eastern border into Ukraine, surreptitiously, to avoid the possibility of provoking a wider war that could directly involve NATO.
To some the idea was always a nonstarter. "Turning a NATO jet into something Ukrainians could fly would mean ripping out hugely complicated systems," said a U.S. defense-industry official in Poland. Warsaw upgraded its MiGs with systems so allies could identify the planes as friendly and to communicate securely, he said, noting that some of that equipment isn't transferred beyond the alliance and would have to be removed from the planes before handing them to the Ukrainians.
"If there were a plan to do so, this would be at least a multi-month project, even operating at warp speed," he said.
Ukrainian pilots likely would be able to adapt to the Polish planes relatively quickly, but that doesn't mean they would be proficient enough to take the MiGs to war, said Justin Bronk, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank.
NATO members Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia operate MiG-29s, a plane type Ukrainian pilots are familiar with. Only Poland seriously considered donating its MiGs.
Chief among Poland's concerns: It didn't want to be seen as donating its jets unilaterally, but rather wanted U.S. and NATO backing for the move. That would protect it from retaliation by its historical rival, another Slavic country, Russia.” [1]
Lithuanian government has no such concerns: We are here, go ahead, beat us up. Just a small problem: we do not have jets.
1. The Ukraine Crisis: U.S. Opposes Giving Kyiv Polish Aircraft
Wall, Robert; Youssef, Nancy A; Hinshaw, Drew.
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 10 Mar 2022: A.10.
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