- Poland’s PM to Zelensky after ‘political theater’ UN remarks: Never ‘insult Poles again’ The Hill
- ‘Don’t Dare To Insult’: Warsaw Warns Zelensky; Ukraine’s Friend Poland Turns Foe? | Details Hindustan Times
- Never ‘insult Poles again,’ Poland’s prime minister tells Ukraine’s Zelensky CNN
- Polish PM Tells Ukraine’s Zelenskiy ‘Never To Insult Poles Again’ Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
- ‘Sick Of Zelensky’: Putin’s Ally Mocks West’s ‘Crumbling’ Support For Ukraine | Watch Hindustan Times
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Polands
Battle Over Venice Film ‘Green Border’ Heats Up as Director Agnieszka Holland Threatens Legal Action Against Poland’s Justice Minister (EXCLUSIVE) – Variety
- Battle Over Venice Film ‘Green Border’ Heats Up as Director Agnieszka Holland Threatens Legal Action Against Poland’s Justice Minister (EXCLUSIVE) Variety
- Polish director demands apology from justice minister for comparing her film to Nazi propaganda The Associated Press
- Venice 2023 review: ‘Zielona Granica’ (‘Green Border’) – This year’s Golden Lion? Euronews
- Agnieszka Holland Calls Out Polish Minister’s ‘Hate Speech’ Comparing Refugee Drama ‘Green Border’ to Nazi Propaganda (EXCLUSIVE) Variety
- Director to sue Polish justice minister for likening film critical of migrant treatment to Nazi propaganda Notes From Poland
Battle Over Venice Film ‘Green Border’ Heats Up as Director Agnieszka Holland Threatens Legal Action Against Poland’s Justice Minister (EXCLUSIVE) – Variety
- Battle Over Venice Film ‘Green Border’ Heats Up as Director Agnieszka Holland Threatens Legal Action Against Poland’s Justice Minister (EXCLUSIVE) Variety
- Polish director demands apology from justice minister for comparing her film to Nazi propaganda The Associated Press
- Venice 2023 review: ‘Zielona Granica’ (‘Green Border’) – This year’s Golden Lion? Euronews
- Agnieszka Holland Calls Out Polish Minister’s ‘Hate Speech’ Comparing Refugee Drama ‘Green Border’ to Nazi Propaganda (EXCLUSIVE) Variety
- Director to sue Polish justice minister for likening film critical of migrant treatment to Nazi propaganda Notes From Poland
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Poland’s leader says Russia’s moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, shifting regional security – Yahoo News
- Poland’s leader says Russia’s moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, shifting regional security Yahoo News
- At Risk of Invasion or Lovely to Visit: Two Views of a Polish Border Area The New York Times
- Polish President Says Russia’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons In Belarus Shift Regional Security Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
- Russian Lawmaker Issues Dire Warning to Poland: ‘Everything Will End Badly’ Newsweek
- Poland’s leader says Russia’s moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, shifting regional security The Associated Press
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Poland’s PM reportedly warns Russian mercenary group Wagner forces moving closer to NATO country’s border – Fox News
- Poland’s PM reportedly warns Russian mercenary group Wagner forces moving closer to NATO country’s border Fox News
- Russia-Ukraine War LIVE: Poland raises alarm as Wagner forces move closer to border | WION LIVE WION
- Wagner troops moving towards Polish border and could try sneaking across, PM says CNN
- Wagnerites’ heavy equipment possibly returned to Russian Defence Ministry – UK Intelligence Yahoo News
- Wagner mercenaries in Belarus move closer to the Polish border, Poland’s prime minister says The Associated Press
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Poland’s Calling, This Is No Time to Scholz Around
He instead detoured to another topic, and another. But the question hung in the air too thickly. Nudging himself, Austin eventually said as diplomatically as he could: “They are a reliable ally. They’ve been that way for a very, very long time. And I truly believe that they’ll continue to be a reliable ally.”
Just one day earlier, it has emerged, Austin had been in the Berlin office of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a long and tense confrontation with Scholz’s chief of staff, Wolfgang Schmidt. That standoff followed a phone call to Germany from US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in which he purportedly read the Germans “the riot act.”
Behind closed doors, therefore, the Americans are somewhere between frustrated, perplexed and livid — and very much wondering whether the Germans are reliable allies. Moreover, they’re hardly the only ones. The Poles, Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians and others are even angrier. The Ukrainians are aghast.
What’s got them so irate is the stubborn refusal by Scholz to make a decision on supplying Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks. These are made in Germany and used by the armies of more than a dozen Western countries. In total, there are more than 2,000 to go around.
Ukraine has been pleading for Leopards since last spring, and allies have been urging Germany to say yes since the summer. The Ukrainians must be able not only to defend themselves against Russian missile attacks, say, but also to maneuver against and around the invasion army, and to retake territories the Russians have occupied. For that, they’ll require armored fighting vehicles, which the Americans, French and Germans are now sending. But they’ll also need the big beasts, the so-called “main battle tanks.”
So Germany could supply some of its own Leopards. Or it could grant re-export licenses to other countries eager to send their tanks, such as Poland, which this week formally made the request. Scholz could even build a consortium of allied nations. That would also show the leadership that Americans and Europeans have long been demanding from Germany — and that Scholz during his campaign in 2021 promised.
But there’s been none of that. In his idiosyncratic combination of stubbornness and coyness, Scholz has said neither yes nor no, nor taken any initiative to break the logjam. Nor has he explained his thinking, instead reciting ad nauseam the same hackneyed tropes.
One is that Germany must never act unilaterally but can only help Ukraine in coordination with allies. This has become a joke, since those very allies keep begging Germany to act. In reality, Scholz has been using this bromide to justify Germany forever being a follower instead of a leader — and specifically, to rationalize hiding behind the Americans.
What made Austin and Sullivan especially mad, for example, is that Scholz in effect tried to set them conditions, tying delivery of Leopards to simultaneous shipments of American M1 Abrams tanks. Maybe the US should indeed send a few — the Brits, too, are giving the Ukrainians some of their Challenger 2s. But the Abrams is harder to operate than the Leopard and runs on jet fuel. And, unlike the Leopard, it’s not already in use throughout Europe. In any case, there’s absolutely no reason why Leopards can only be sent if Abrams are too — even Germany’s new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, has conceded that.
Another cliche Scholz and his minions have been recycling is that Scholz is only being “prudent.” Does that imply that the other allies are imprudent? More likely, it suggests that Scholz is in the throes of German angst. He appears more afraid than other leaders of Russian President Vladimir Putin escalating to chemical, biological or even nuclear warfare, and he doesn’t want to be the one giving the provocation.
While such escalation can’t be ruled out, it has become unlikely — in part because all the powers that matter, from China to the US, have made clear to Putin that Russian nukes would not be tolerated and would result in his assured demise. In any case, the way to deter a bully like Putin is to show strength, not fear. And it’s unclear why the Germans should worry more about this remote scenario than, say, the Ukrainians, who’d be Putin’s target.
With his dithering, Scholz has therefore done exactly what he pledged to avoid: He has gone it alone, leaving Germany increasingly isolated in the Western alliance. In fact, he’s even isolated himself and his party, the Social Democrats, within the German government. Agnes-Marie Strack-Zimmermann, a leading parliamentarian of the Free Democrats, the junior partners in the coalition, said last week that “history is watching us and Germany has unfortunately failed.” Annalena Baerbock, Scholz’s foreign minister and a member of the Greens, hinted that she wouldn’t stand in the way of Poland sending German-made Leopards.
I still believe that Scholz will eventually “free the Leopards,” as protesters outside his office chanted last week. Even then, however, he’ll once again have appeared so reluctant as to garble the signal that the Ukrainians need to hear — that the united West has their back until they prevail.
In style and approach, Scholz has long emulated his predecessor, Angela Merkel. This isn’t serving him well. Merkel’s Russia policy now looks like appeasement. And the way she made decisions has been mocked as “merkeling” — muddling through without committing. Now scholzing has become a verb too. It means “communicating good intentions, only to use/find/invent any reason imaginable to delay these and/or prevent them.”
If Scholz continues to scholz, he will fail as chancellor. Meanwhile, the question stands: Is Germany a reliable ally? What Lloyd Austin wanted to say but couldn’t is that the answer remains to be seen.
More From Bloomberg Opinion:
So We’re In a Polycrisis. Is That Even a Thing?: Andreas Kluth
Is Germany Letting Ukraine Down? It’s Not That Simple: Hal Brands
If Turkey Blocks Sweden and Finland, Will NATO Boot Turkey?: James Stavridis
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. A former editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist, he is author of “Hannibal and Me.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion
Robert Lewandowski’s first-ever World Cup goal highlights Poland’s 2-0 win over Saudi Arabia
The 2022 FIFA World Cup is in full swing Saturday, as Poland defeated Saudi Arabia at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, and we’ve got you covered with all the action from the Group C tilt on FS1!
Earlier, Australia took down Tunisia 1-0 in a Group D matchup.
You can watch every match of the tournament on the FOX Sports family of networks — the tournament’s official English-language broadcast partner in the U.S. — and the FOX Sports app and FOXSports.com. You can also stream full-match replays for free on Tubi.
Here are the top plays.
Poland vs. Saudi Arabia Highlights | 2022 FIFA World Cup
Poland and Saudi Arabia squared off in the group stage of the World Cup with Poland winning 2-0.
Poland vs. Saudi Arabia
12′ – Almost!
Saudia Arabia nearly drew first blood, but Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny denied a high shot attempt from midfielder Mohamed Kanno.
38′ – Sticking with it
After having his shot rejected, Poland forward Robert Lewandowski corralled the miss and passed to Piotr Zielinski, who punched in the first goal of the game. Poland took a 1-0 lead.
Poland’s Piotr Zielinski scores goal vs. Saudi Arabia in 39′ | 2022 FIFA World Cup
Watch Poland’s Piotr Zielinski scoring a goal against Saudi Arabia in the 39′ in the 2022 Men’s FIFA World Cup.
45′ – DOUBLE SAVE
Szczesny is having himself a game. The Poland goalkeeper denied a penalty kick from Salem Al-Dawsari and then an immediate shot off the ricochet from Mohammed Alburayk.
Poland took a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Wojciech Szczesny makes an incredible save on a PK to keep Poland ahead of Saudi Arabia | 2022 FIFA World Cup
Wojciech Szczesny makes a ridiculous save on a PK to keep Poland ahead of Saudi Arabia at 1-0 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
62′ – Game of inches …
Looking to expand its lead, Poland forward Arkadiusz Milik’s header went off the crossbar.
65′ – Can’t make this up
Lewandowski continued the game of inches theme for Poland a few minutes later, as the forward smacked a shot off the right post.
78′ – A little wide
Saudia Arabia has been unable to break through. Midfielder Abdulelah Al-Malki got a considerable look in the latter half of the second half but was unable to connect.
81′ – Costly, costly mistake
Al-Malki couldn’t control a pass in Saudia Arabia’s own end and paid dearly. Lewandowski swooped up the loose ball and smacked in his first-ever World Cup goal, putting Poland up 2-0, which would be the final score.
Robert Lewandowski scores his first World Cup goal for Poland against Saudi Arabia| 2022 FIFA World Cup
Robert Lewandowski scored his first World Cup goal in the 81′ against Saudi Arabia. Poland leads Saudi Arabia 2-0.
The fans are ready …
Read more from the World Cup:
Check out the full schedule for the World Cup and how to watch each match live here.
Get more from FIFA World Cup 2022 Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Ukraine war: Kyiv monastery raid; Kherson ‘treason’ arrest; and prank call to Poland’s Duda
1. Ukraine searches Kyiv monastery over suspected Russia links
Ukraine’s security service (SBU) has raided the main Orthodox Christian monastery in Kyiv over suspected links to Russia.
The SBU said on Telegram that it had carried out “counter-espionage measures” at the 1,000-year-old Pechersk Lavra complex on Tuesday morning.
The operation aimed to “counter the subversive activities of the Russian special services in Ukraine”, it added.
The searches were carried out alongside Ukrainian police and the national guard, the SBU said. Worshippers were allowed to continue praying at the monastery but were subjected to SBU security checks.
“These measures are carried out to prevent the use [of the monastery] as a centre of the ‘Russian world’,” the SBU said.
The Pechersk Lavra is the oldest monastery in Ukraine and has been on the Unesco World Heritage List since 1990. It is also the headquarters of the Russian-backed wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The Moscow branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had maintained close ties to Russia until May, following the invasion of Ukraine.
Two similar raids were also conducted on monasteries and Orthodox Church properties in the northwestern Ukrainian region of Rivne.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has condemned the raids as “military action against the Russian Orthodox Church”.
The Russian Orthodox Church has also described the searches as an “act of intimidation”.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russia’s church, has vocally supported Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
2. Ukrainians may have to live with blackouts until March
The head of a major Ukrainian energy provider has warned that citizens will likely have to live with blackouts at least until the end of March.
Sergey Kovalenko, head of the YASNO, said on Facebook that workers were rushing to complete repairs before winter arrives.
“Stock up on warm clothes and blankets and think about options that will help you wait a long outage,” he said.
Half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been damaged by Russian attacks, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In his nightly address on Monday, Zelenskyy also appealed to Ukrainians to conserve energy.
Amid frequent blackouts, millions of people have been left without electricity and water as winter sets in and temperatures drop below freezing. Grid operator Ukrenergo said more planned shutdowns are scheduled for Tuesday.
“The scale of destruction is colossal,” said Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi.
“In Ukraine, there is a power generation deficit. We cannot generate as much energy as consumers can use.”
Kudrytskyi added that rising temperatures after Wednesday should provide an opportunity for Ukrenergo to stabilise the power-generating system.
The Ukrainian government has begun evacuating citizens from the liberated city of Kherson, which remains mostly without electricity and running water. Residents in Kherson may apply to be relocated to areas where heating and security problems are less acute.
“Given the difficult security situation in the city and infrastructure problems, you can evacuate for the winter to safer regions of the country,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.
Moscow says its strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are the consequences of Kyiv not willing to negotiate.
Russia has been targeting Ukrainian power facilities after a series of battlefield setbacks, including its withdrawal from Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro river.
3. Ukraine health system facing ‘darkest days in the war so far’, says WHO
The World Health Organization’s regional director to Europe has issued a stark warning after visiting Ukraine.
Up to three million more people could leave their Ukrainian homes this winter in search of warmth and safety, according to Hans Kluge.
“Ukraine’s health system is facing its darkest days in the war so far,” Kluge said in a statement.
“Having endured more than 700 attacks, it is now also a victim of the energy crisis. Access to healthcare cannot be held hostage,” he added.
The WHO says hundreds of Ukrainian hospitals and healthcare facilities lacked fuel, water, and electricity to meet people’s basic needs.
“We expect 2-3 million more people to leave their homes in search of warmth and safety,” Kluge said.
“They will face unique health challenges, including respiratory infections such as COVID-19, pneumonia, influenza, and the serious risk of diphtheria and measles in the under-vaccinated population.”
The UN health agency has called for a “humanitarian health corridor” to be created for all areas of Ukraine that have been recaptured by Kyiv, as well as those occupied by Russian forces.
4. Kherson official arrested on suspicion of ‘treason’
Ukrainian investigators said they have arrested a Russian pre-trial detention centre official in Kherson for “treason”.
The suspect is accused of allowing Russian prisoners of war to escape before the city was recaptured by Kyiv.
“From the very first days of the occupation, this employee of a detention centre worked for the invaders,” the SBU said in a statement.
“[They were] in charge of pre-trial detention centres and places of execution of sentences,” it added.
According to the SBU, the suspect “did not have time to escape” when Kyiv’s forces liberated the southern city on November 11. If convicted of treason, the suspect faces a life sentence in prison.
The arrest comes after Ukrainian prosecutors say they have found four “torture sites” used by the Russian forces in Kherson.
Earlier this month, the SBU also arrested a suspected Russian soldier who was allegedly “disguised as a civilian” in Kherson.
Fighting continues to rage on the ground in eastern Ukraine, where Russia has mobilised its forces from Kherson.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Tuesday that it had repelled numerous Russian attacks in several areas in the Donetsk region.
“The enemy does not stop shelling the positions of our troops and settlements near the contact line,” it claimed. “Attacks continue to damage critical infrastructure and civilian homes.”
Four people were killed and four others wounded in Ukraine-controlled areas of the Donetsk region over the past 24 hours, regional governor Pavlo Kyryleno said on Telegram.
Russian missiles also reportedly hit a humanitarian aid distribution centre in the Zaporizhzhia town of Orihiv, killing one person and injuring two others.
The strike allegedly occurred near Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, according to regional governor Oleksandr Starukh. Russia and Ukraine have both accused each other of firing shells near the plant.
Authorities in the Russian border region of Belgorod have also claimed that three people were killed in strikes on Tuesday.
5. Poland’s President spoke to Russian pranksters after missile explosion
The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda has confirmed that he spoke to Russian pranksters after last week’s deadly rocket strike.
Duda’s office confirmed on Tuesday that last week he was put through to a person claiming to be French President Emmanuel Macron and that he gave the caller sensitive information.
Two people were killed by a rocket blast in the Polish border village of Przewodow on November 15. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the missile appeared to have been fired accidentally by Ukraine’s air defences.
A seven-minute video on YouTube shows two Russian pranksters — known as Vovan and Lexus — speaking to Duda in an apparent French accent.
The Polish President can be heard explaining details about the missile incident and his care not to exacerbate the situation with Russia.
Duda’s office says the prank call was one of many conversations that he had received just after the rocket strike.
“During the call, President Duda realised from the unusual manner in which the caller was conducting the call that there may have been an attempt to deceive and ended the call,” the office wrote on Twitter.
The same Russian pranksters had previously spoken to Duda in 2020 while posing as UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. Two officials from Poland’s mission to the UN were dismissed over the incident.
An investigation into the latest prank call is underway, Duda’s office said.
Vovan and Lexus have previously targeted other European politicians and celebrities with prank calls, including UK defence minister Ben Wallace.
Poland’s defence minister says the country will now deploy additional Patriot missile launchers from Germany near the Ukrainian border.
Berlin had offered the air defence system to help Warsaw intercept missiles after last week’s deadly strike in Przewodow, which had raised fears that the Ukraine war could spill into NATO territory.
“The German defence minister confirmed her willingness to deploy the Patriot launcher at the border with Ukraine,” Polish minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter.
“The version of the system remains to be determined, as does how quickly they will reach us and how long they will be stationed.”
The NATO allies had already said that German Eurofighters would offer to help police Polish airspace.
6. Ukraine receives new EU aid worth €2.5 billion
Ukraine’s government says it has received a new €2.5 billion financial aid package from the European Union.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said the bloc had now provided €6.7 billion of assistance to Kyiv since Russia invaded.
“The EU Commission is disbursing a further €2.5 billion for Ukraine,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
“We are planning €18 billion for 2023, with funding disbursed regularly for urgent repairs and fast recovery leading to a successful reconstruction,” she added.
“We will keep on supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy said on Twitter that he was “grateful” for the new tranche of aid ahead of the winter.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal added that the assistance was “another step of solidarity”.
The international community has also stepped up its aid to Moldova amid an energy crisis.
On Tuesday, the Russian gas giant Gazprom threatened to cut gas supplies to Moldova, accusing Ukraine of siphoning off the pipeline that runs through its territory.
According to Gazprom, Ukraine illegally accumulated 52.5 million cubic metres of gas in November by “violating” part of the deliveries to use it for its own purposes.
The Russian giant threatened to “reduce gas supplies” from November 28, as temperatures plummet and the demand for gas increases.
Russia was the EU’s biggest supplier of gas before the invasion of Ukraine, but the EU has since cut its imports significantly to less than 10% of all imported gas.
Poland’s Fraught Offer: Fighter Jets for Ukraine, but Only Through U.S. Hands
President Biden’s commitment to keeping the United States from engaging in direct combat with Russian forces faced an unexpected test this week, when Poland surprised American officials by offering to turn over its collection of aging, Russian-made MIG fighters, for ultimate transfer to Ukraine.
But the offer came with a hitch: Poland refused to give the MIGs directly to Ukraine. The deal would only go forward if the United States, and NATO, did the transferring, and then replaced Poland’s fleet with American-made fighter jets. The United States, blindsided by the demand, began to pick apart what was going on. Polish leaders, fearful of incurring Russia’s wrath, and perhaps an attack on the air base where the MIGs launched from, was handing the problem of becoming a “co-combatant” in the war off to Washington and its other NATO allies.
The Pentagon all but rejected the idea on Tuesday night and said the United States had not been consulted. By late Wednesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had put a stake through the whole idea, telling his Polish counterpart in a phone call that the proposed MIG transfer was a dead letter, Pentagon officials said.
“The transfer of combat aircraft could be mistaken for an escalatory step,” John F. Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.
In the midst of a remarkably unified alliance, the back and forth was a reminder that the joint effort to punish and ultimately repel Russia has a third rail that no one wants to touch. Ukraine’s allies will provide 17,000 anti-tank weapons in six days; they will train their cyberweapons on Russian targets. But they will not risk a dogfight over the skies of Ukraine, which, in the minds of many, is bound to bring them fully into the war.
That distinction was driven home on Wednesday, when Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who had initially seemed somewhat open to the idea of Poland giving its planes to Ukraine, said the idea of flying MIG-29 fighter jets to a U.S. air base in Germany for transfer to Ukraine lacked a clear “substantive rationale.”
“The prospect of fighter jets at the disposal of the United States Government departing from a U.S. NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace contested with Russia over Ukraine raises some serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” Mr. Blinken said during a news conference in Washington.
Then he got to his central point: “Our goal is to end the war, not to expand it — including potentially expand it to NATO territory,” Mr. Blinken said.
Administration officials, when promised anonymity, conceded that the political pressure on them to strike a deal to put Ukrainian pilots in cockpits was huge. While Russia’s air force has performed poorly so far, Ukraine’s ability to contest the skies with its current fleet is limited — and probably diminishing, once Russia moves in its sophisticated air defenses.
So when the United States rejected the proposal, Republicans leapt — the first time there has been a partisan breach on strategy.
“President Biden should explain exactly why he vetoed fighter jets for Ukraine,” Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.
He argued that the administration was giving Ukraine “Javelins and Stingers from NATO territory,’’ a reference to antitank and antiaircraft weapons. “So why exactly does President Biden think that Ukrainian MIGs, flown by Ukrainian pilots, would be shot down over NATO territory while they’re on their way to defend Ukrainian airspace?”
There were similar blasts from other Republicans.
In fact, the line between sending ammunition and sending weapons is a murky one. And while there may be legal distinctions, administration officials made clear that they had no doubt that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would regard sending the planes as an escalatory move.
The issue started about 10 days ago when Josep Borrell Fontelles, the European Union’s top foreign policy and security official, said at a news conference that the E.U. nations were going to provide “fighting jets. We’re not talking about just ammunition. We are providing more important arms to go to a war.”
He later backtracked, saying countries would individually decide what to do. The idea picked up traction in Congress. Many looked to Poland, as one of three nations that could provide the MIG fighters — which, by definition, are three decades old and hardly up to modern standards. (The Ukrainians want these planes because they know how to fly them — old MIGs, left over from Soviet days, make up their air force.)
Russia-Ukraine War: Key Things to Know
Card 1 of 4
But then Poland began to think about the Russian threats to attack any country that allowed Ukrainian jets to lift off from their airfields to engage Russian forces.
So Poland said it wanted to hand the planes over to the U.S. base at Ramstein, Germany, turning it into something of a used-plane lot for Cold War aircraft. It was up to the Americans, they said, to fix them up and give them to Ukraine.
American officials believe that the jets, given Russia’s increasing anti-air capabilities in Ukraine, would have limited value to Ukraine and that they are not worth the risks they could pose to more effective means of bolstering the Ukrainian military. The move could, for example, prompt Russia to intensify its efforts to stop supply convoys carrying arms from allied countries.
Daniel Fried, a former senior State Department official and former U.S. ambassador to Poland, said the snafu seemed to have started with a miscommunication and snowballed from there.
“It feels like a mess. I suspect there is a chain of miscommunication that resulted in mixed signals to the Poles.”
“Borrell started it,” he said. “Then the U.S. failed to be clear with Poles and inadvertently gave mixed signals,’’ a reference to Mr. Blinken’s initial, seeming openness to the idea.
Mr. Fried concluded: “The administration needs not to explain why the MIGs are a bad idea. They need to explain what they will do to help the Ukrainians achieve what they wanted to achieve with the MIGs.”
Michael Crowley and Julian Barnes contributed reporting from Washington.
Poland’s proposal to transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to US to give to Ukraine isn’t ‘tenable,’ Pentagon says
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement that the Pentagon did not believe Poland’s proposal was “tenable,” just hours after Polish officials released a statement saying the government was ready to deploy all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to US Air Force’s Rammstein Air Base in Germany so they could then be provided to Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
“It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it,” Kirby said. “We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one.”
Kirby said that the decision about transferring Polish-owned planes to Ukraine was “ultimately one for the Polish government,” adding that the proposal shows the complexities that the issue presents as Russia has made threatening statements over arms being provided to Ukrainians for use against Russian forces.
The idea as laid out by Poland was too risky, Kirby said, as the US and NATO seek to avoid an outright conflict between the alliance and Russia.
“The prospect of fighter jets ‘at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America’ departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” Kirby said.
Biden administration caught off guard
The Defense Department statement was released Tuesday evening after the Polish proposal caught the Biden administration completely off guard, multiple sources told CNN.
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded for more aircraft amid the Russian invasion, the offer had not been discussed with the US before making it public and Polish officials did not bring it up with Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he was recently in Poland either.
US officials have privately weighed sending aircraft to Ukraine but have repeatedly noted the difficult logistical challenges of doing so.
Poland’s surprise announcement complicates what had already been a high-stakes visit by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is due to land in Warsaw late Wednesday.
Harris had been expected to discuss the fighter jet issue while in Poland, according to officials. The White House had previously said it was in discussions with the Polish government about a plan for Poland to supply Ukraine with its Soviet-era fighter jets and the US to backfill the planes with F-16s.
Harris is still scheduled to depart Wednesday morning for Poland, but now there are intensive conversations within the administration about how to work with Poland to come to some sort of agreement that allows the jets to reach Ukraine.
A top State Department official said Tuesday that Poland did not consult with the United States prior to issuing its statement.
“I saw that announcement by the government of Poland as I was literally driving here today,” Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
Nuland noted that the US and Poland have been in consultations for a couple of days on the possibility, but added she had come to the hearing directly from a meeting “where (she) ought to have heard about.”
“So I think that actually was a surprise move by the Poles,” Nuland told lawmakers.
‘Ready to deploy’
The Polish government said in a statement Tuesday that it is “ready to deploy — immediately and free of charge — all their MiG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America.”
“At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities. Poland is ready to immediately establish the conditions of purchase of the planes,” the statement said.
Speaking to US lawmakers virtually on Saturday, Zelensky asked for American support to facilitate the transfer of Soviet-era fighter jets from Eastern European nations to Ukraine, where pilots have been trained to fly them and could use them to attempt to control the skies as Russia conducts its war against the country.
By Saturday evening, US and Polish officials were in discussions about a potential agreement to supply the country with American F-16 fighter jets in exchange for Poland sending its Russian-made jets to Ukraine.
“We are working with Poland as we speak to see if we can backfill anything that they provide to the Ukrainians,” Blinken said on CBS on Sunday. “But we also want to see if we can be helpful in making sure that, whatever they provide to Ukrainians, something goes to them to make up for any gap in the security for Poland that might result.”
On Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said the Department of Defense was in “interagency” discussions to “examine” the possibility of the US sending fighter jets to other European countries if those countries choose to send fighter jets of their own to Ukraine.
Prior to the apparent dismissal of Warsaw’s proposal by the Biden administration, members of Congress appeared supportive of the move. During Tuesday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin asked Nuland to ensure the Biden administration notifies Congress if there are going to be any delays getting F-16s to Poland.
Two European diplomats told CNN on Tuesday, prior to the Pentagon statement, that the complicated logistics behind the idea of Poland giving the jets to Ukraine had not yet been finalized.
The Polish announcement came after some Polish officials expressed frustration about how forward leaning the US was on this subject over the weekend, the sources said.
“In fact, we’re talking with our Polish friends right now about what we might be able to do to backfill their needs if, in fact, they choose to provide these fighter jets to the Ukrainians. What can we do? How can we help to make sure that they get something to backfill the planes that they’re handing over to the Ukrainians? We’re in very active discussions with them about that,” Blinken said Sunday.
A Polish official told CNN they believed Harris’ trip would be a good time for the US to announce more details about aircraft transfers, but the Pentagon statement suggests such a possibility is unlikely.
Other countries that are in talks with the US about taking part in similar transfers are conducting the conversations quietly, without raising expectations, said a central European diplomat.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Kevin Liptak and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.