Urgent: army research aviation. The announcement is not plastered in the corridors of the Ministries of Defense of all Western countries, but the Ukrainian government led by Volodymyr Zelensky has been repeating it for several days to its counterparts in the West: “Send us planes !” A call he reiterated, this Wednesday, March 9 in the morning, in a video broadcast on encrypted messaging Telegram. Cornered in several large cities by Russian troops who continued their invasion on the 14th day of war, the Ukrainian soldiers suffered from numerical inferiority as much as from a lack of equipment.
On Tuesday evening, Poland responded favorably by declaring that it wanted to make its Mig-29 planes available to the United States and then deliver them to Ukraine. In a statement, the Polish Foreign Ministry said it was ready “to move all its Mig-29 aircraft without delay and free of charge” to the American base in Ramstein, Germany.
The American army, within the framework of the treaty across the Atlantic, would then be responsible for convincing all the signatory countries to make this donation available to Ukraine. A prospect that worried Moscow, this Wednesday noon, through the voice of its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov: “It is a very undesirable and potentially dangerous scenario.” In the communication war in which the Kremlin and Kiev are engaged, and of which the Western world is a prisoner, Volodymyr Zelensky had urged, a few minutes earlier, the members of the military alliance to “decide as soon as possible”.
Avoid escalation
But the Polish statement caught Americans off guard in the first place. Questioned on the subject during a parliamentary hearing, the number three of American diplomacy, Victoria Nuland, seemed a little embarrassed: “To my knowledge, they had not consulted us beforehand”, she specified before add: “I think it’s a surprise announcement from the Poles”.
The embarrassment is such for the United States that the spokesman for the Pentagon, John Kirby, hastened to reject his ally’s proposal. “We do not believe that Poland’s proposal is viable,” he replied in a statement. American diplomacy fears that the delivery of Mig-29 planes will be part of a disastrous escalation with Russia.
When declaring the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin had promised an “immediate response” and “consequences never before known” to all countries that “would try to interfere”. A threat which has not prevented the members of the European Union and the United States from establishing financial penaltiesbut which dissuaded them from any military intervention.
Russian Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov on Tuesday reiterated the Kremlin’s warning that if fighter jets based in another country attack Russian targets, this “could be considered as the engagement of these countries in the conflict military”. Western support is therefore limited, for the time being, to deliveries of defensive weapons. Clearly, no attack tanks or combat aircraft. This is where the trouble between Poland and the United States lies. Mig-29 planes are fighter planes, carriers of missiles.
Imbroglio between Poles and Americans
While lethal weapons have been delivered on the spot since the start of the conflict, as with the shipment of 2,500 assault rifles and 1,500 anti-tank weapons orchestrated by historically non-aligned Finland, no country has provided the slightest plane to Ukraine. Slovakia, whose military fleet has many aircraft, also ruled out this hypothesis, arguing that it should have them for its own defense. France or Germany, which have deployed planes in Romania in anticipation of a potential expansion of the offensive, are not committing either. Fearing being isolated and facing the Russian response head-on, Poland embarked its American ally on Tuesday in its maneuver.
Polish leaders had every reason to believe that their counterparts would follow. On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was working with the Poles on the subject: “We strongly support them in providing aircraft to the Ukrainians.” Discussions had even taken place to think about equipping the Polish arsenal with American military planes F-16 to replace the Russian Mig-29. Poland finally announced to donate part of its aviation. It was this announcement that surprised the United States.
Ukrainian army in trouble
As the days go by, the need for air support becomes apparent for the besieged Ukrainian troops. Following the bombardments targeting the air bases, several radar stations were destroyed. The air-to-ground strikes and the aerial combat rally imposed by the Russian forces nailed squadrons to the ground. Air Force pilots still airborne remain outnumbered by their opponent. By strengthening their grip on Ukrainian skies, Russian forces will be able to more easily launch their ground offensive towards Kiev and the encircled metropolises.
To resist, Ukrainian troops must therefore strengthen their presence in the air. But the army is faced with a major problem: the lack of training of its contingent. Pilots are mainly trained on Russian-made aircraft, such as the Mig-29 fighter. Both armies know this and the staffs will have their eyes fixed on the sky in the coming days.