US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the US was “working actively” on a deal with Poland to supply Ukraine with jets to fight Russia.
The deal, according to reports, could involve Poland handing over its existing MIG-29s, a Soviet/Russian-made jet fighter Ukrainian pilots are familiar with, and the US would then provide its F-16 fighters to Poland as replacements.
The MIG-29 is a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. While originally oriented towards combat against any enemy aircraft, many MiG-29s have been furnished as multirole fighters capable of performing a number of different operations, and are commonly outfitted to use a range of air-to-surface armaments and precision munitions.
The MiG-29 has been manufactured in several major variants, including the multirole Mikoyan MiG-29M and the Mikoyan MiG-29K for the Navy; the most advanced member of the family to date is the Mikoyan MiG-35.
Deal providing jets to Poland “look at very actively”
US officials, including Blinken, had downplayed the possibility of any NATO country supplying besieged Ukraine since the beginning of this week.