Join 10,000+ Kyiv Independent members todaySupport our reporting
Monday, March 20, 2023

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

by The Kyiv Independent news deskMarch 16, 2023 10:09 pm
Share

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.”

The Kyiv Independent news desk
The Kyiv Independent news desk

We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.

Share our dream.
Support our reporting
I dream of the day when the main headline on the Kyiv Independent’s website will be ‘UKRAINE WINS’ and we can start covering the post-war transformation of Ukraine.
Olga Rudenko, editor-in-chief
visamasterCardpaypal