White House: Poland sending jets to Ukraine won't sway US to send F-16s

Poland's recent commitment to provide MiG-29s will not influence the U.S. to send F-16s to Ukraine, the White House said, as reported by CNN.

U.S. National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby, as quoted by CNN, said that Poland supplying Ukraine with MiG-29s was "a sovereign decision," and it wasn't for the U.S. to "characterize Poland's decision one way or another."

"It doesn’t change our calculus with respect to F-16s," he said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said on March 16 that his country would transfer four fighter jets to Ukraine "in the coming days."

Meanwhile, the U.S. and other allies have thus far declined to provide aircraft like the American-manufactured F-16, which has been operational since the 1970s and utilized by more than 20 countries.

In an interview with ABC News on Feb. 25, U.S. President Joe Biden said he dismissed the idea of supplying Ukraine with sophisticated fighter aircraft "for now" because Ukraine doesn't need them.

He added that there is “no basis upon which there is a rationale, according to our military now, to provide F-16s.”

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The Kyiv Independent