Patricia Zengerle; Humeyra Pamuk; Mike Stone

WASHINGTON (Reuters). -Poland’s surprise decision to make all of its MiG-29 combat aircraft available for the United States was made by Warsaw. Warsaw is the U.S. State Department No. According to a diplomat, this was after Ukraine demanded that European countries provide fighter aircraft in order to fight Russia’s invasion.

Victoria Nuland from the State Department, Undersecretary of State in Political Affairs said that “to my knowledge it wasn’t pre-consulted us that they intended to give these aircrafts to us.” She spoke at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. “So, I think that it actually was a surprise act by the Poles,” Nuland said.

The Polish Foreign Ministry stated earlier that Poland will deploy its MiG-29 aircraft to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to be at the service of the United States. It also urges all NATO member countries that have similar planes to do so.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, made last week a desperate plea to European countries for Russian-made planes for Ukraine’s defense against Russian invaders. He spoke during a Saturday video call with U.S. lawmakers.

U.S. legislators have been pressing the Biden administration for the facilitation of the transfer to Ukraine of fighter planes from Poland, NATO countries and Eastern European countries.

With Poland, the administration discussed Ukraine’s request. Officials from the U.S. Administration stated that there are logistical difficulties in both moving American aircraft to Ukraine and replacing them.

Warsaw’s decision to sell its Soviet-era MIG-29 fighter planes to the United States prompted experts from the U.S. government to search for details on legal limitations surrounding the transfer to Ukraine.

Nuland explained that it was important to evaluate what Poland’s immediate requirements would be, as the country is so close to the conflict.

They benefit from total air security provided by the NATO alliance for Poland. … The most important thing is to determine what Poland’s immediate need are, in the context that it is a neighbour of this conflict,” she added. Washington had also been looking into putting Patriot missile battery into Poland.

Poland has stated that it supports Kyiv using defensive weapons. However, it said it wouldn’t send any jets to Ukraine because it is not directly involved in the conflict between Ukraine (which is not an NATO ally) and Russia.

CUTTING THROUGH THE RED TAPE

U.S. Air Force officials and the Department of Defense still struggle to comprehend the impact of the Polish MiG transfers, but the White House’s National Security Council has the best understanding of whether or not the United States is willing to accept them as donations.

If such a donation was possible, it wasn’t clear whether the U.S. could transfer the jets the Ukraine or if they needed to accept the jets, declare them excess and go through the transfer process for excess defense items.

Experts said that there were still legal issues to be resolved regarding landing slots at the U.S. military base in Germany for the Polish planes and how the jets could get into Ukraine.

The National Security Council didn’t immediately reply to our request for comment.

The United States keeps a reserve for excess weapons. These can be transferred to countries as long as they clear certain regulatory and legal hurdles.

If the MIGs are able to be classified as excess defense articles, the president is required to give Congress 30 days’ notice of a transfer, said Franklin Turner, a government contracts lawyer at McCarter & English.

Biden stated that the process was hampered by “a lot of red tape” that was obstructing it.