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Congress Presses Biden to Transfer Polish Aircraft to Ukraine Despite ‘Risks of Escalation’

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Congress is looking to pressure the U.S. to help Ukraine fight the Russian invasion. To that end, a growing, bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing President Biden into facilitating the transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland to Ukraine.

The U.S. military considers facilitating the shipment of aircraft to Ukraine to be a high-risk move for the United States. However, lawmakers are attempting to push for Polish fighter jets to get into Ukrainian hands.

The Polish government announced its intention to transfer all of its Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to the U.S. base in Ramstein, Germany, so that they can be made available “immediately and free of charge” for Ukraine’s defense. Yet, the U.S. does not think this is a good idea.

Dozens more members of both parties on Sunday called on the president to help Ukraine get the Polish fighter jets that President Volodymyr Zelensky is requesting to defend itself from the skies against Russian attacks.

“We, the 58 members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, urge continued U.S. commitment to the sovereignty of Ukraine and the freedom of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s ongoing invasion,” the moderate, bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus said Sunday.

“We strongly believe that the U.S. must provide additional defense matériel to Ukrainians protecting their nation,” it said.

The CSP went on to call on Biden to help give the Ukrainians Stinger missiles, drones, and Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets that Poland is offering to send to Ukraine.

A Fox News report reveals that the problem for the U.S. is how to get the Polish planes to Ukraine without NATO getting involved.

“Once that plane takes off from Poland. Well, it’s an air raid on Russian forces taking off from Poland.”

“It’s a bipartisan message… Send these MiGs,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said at a Senate GOP news conference Thursday.

“When we say we’re going to do something, and we don’t do it, we’re sending mixed messages to Putin. And that shows a lack of resolve,” added Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Democratic Senators Bob Menendez, and Jeanne Shaheen, backed providing the fighter jets at a hearing earlier Thursday.

“There is bipartisan support for providing Ukraine with fighter jets of neighboring countries that they would know how to fly and engage in,” Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said Thursday.

“Time is of the essence. The Ukrainians are getting bombarded, and they do no have, at least as their country’s leaders suggest and assert, the wherewithal to compete in the sky… I don’t understand why we are not working expeditiously to facilitate planes to Ukraine,” he added.

What does the White House say about sending Polish aircraft to Ukraine?

Gen. Tod D. Wolters, Commander of U.S. European Command, says the transfer of MiG-29s to Ukraine may be mistaken for escalation and could result in a Russian response against NATO “producing a high-risk scenario.”

“The transfer of MiG-29 aircraft will not appreciably increase the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force… Therefore, we assess that the overall gain is low,” Wolters said.

“We believe the most effective way to support the Ukrainian military in their fight against Russia is to provide increased amounts of anti-tank weapons and air defense systems, which is ongoing with the international community,” Wolters said in a statement.

Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman also said on Fox News Sunday that moving the planes would be “very complicated” and argued that “backfilling them was virtually impossible.”

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Sabrina Martín Rondon is a Venezuelan journalist. Her source is politics and economics. She is a specialist in corporate communications and is committed to the task of dismantling the supposed benefits of socialism // Sabrina Martín Rondon es periodista venezolana. Su fuente es la política y economía. Es especialista en comunicaciones corporativas y se ha comprometido con la tarea de desmontar las supuestas bondades del socialismo

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