U.S. Rejects Poland’s Surprise Offer To Donate 28 MiG Jets For Ukraine As ‘Unworkable’

The Polish government announced on Tuesday that it is ready to transfer 28 MiG-29 fighter planes to the U.S. with the understanding that the planes would be given to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion. But the U.S. quickly rejected the offer as unworkable.

Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said, “we do not believe Poland’s proposal is a tenable one. It simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it.” Kirby indicated that the logistics were problematic due to aircraft issues.

After the sudden announcement, Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of state for political affairs, said she was blindsided by the announcement. Nuland told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “I was in a meeting where I ought to have known about that just before I came.”

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Sunday the U.S. was working with Poland to “backfill anything that they provide to the Ukrainians.”