Secretary of State John Kerry: Poland can send fighter jets to Ukraine on "green light"

Photo: By United States Department of State - Department of State, Public Domain

Several countries, including Poland, have been given the "green light" to send fighter jets to Ukraine as part of military assistance, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday.

If Poland, as a member of NATO, wants to deploy fighter jets to Ukraine, Blinken answered, "That goes for a yes," in an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation."

We are actually discussing with our Polish friends what we might be able to do to help fill the gap if they decide to provide these fighter jets to Ukraine. Are there any options?

What can we do to ensure that they get a backfill for the planes they are transferring to Ukraine?

On "Face the Nation," Oksana Markarova, the ambassador to the United States, said she hopes Kiev will receive fighter jets as quickly as possible from Poland.

“We are working with our American, especially, friends and allies, on the steady supply of all the ammunition and anti-air, anti-tank, and planes to be able to effectively defend our country,” she said.

Blinken said on Sunday during a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu that Washington has been in discussions with Warsaw regarding a proposed three-way deal that could allow Ukraine to acquire warplanes from that country.

As Poland seeks to modernize its arsenal and reduce its reliance on Russian equipment, it regularly retires MiG-29s and replaces them with F-16s.

“We are looking actively now at the question of airplanes that Poland may provide to Ukraine and looking at how we might be able to backfill should Poland decided to use those—to supply those planes,” said Blinken. “I can’t speak to a timeline, but I can just tell you we’re looking at it very, very actively.”

7 March 2022