U.S. President Joe Biden's' Visit to Poland Could Galvanize "Aviation Coalition" Supporting Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Poland next week could galvanize further support for Ukraine including a potential “aviation coalition” of countries willing to supply fighter jets to Kyiv.

Poland will join a potential “aviation coalition” consisting of some NATO and European countries supporting Ukraine which are in agreement about supplying fighter jets to Kyiv.

In an interview with Ukrinform, Polish President, Andrzej Duda said that his country was ready to provide Ukraine with MiG-29s, but not F-16s as it simply did not have them in sufficient numbers.

He added that training a pilot to fly the F-16 will take a long time. “Training Ukrainian pilots will take many months. Instead, if MiG-29 planes or, for example, Su planes are provided, then Ukrainian pilots are ready to fly them almost immediately. In fact, they could just fly straight home on them. Therefore, without a doubt, if the MiG-29 aircraft are transferred, they will be able to immediately strengthen the defense of Ukraine, and this is very important. Of course, very few NATO countries have MiG aircraft. We still have a few of these aircraft and will look into this,” he added.

Duda stated that Poland is awaiting F-35 Lightning II jets from the U.S., and FA-50 aircraft produced in South Korea.

The issue of supplying fighter jets to Kyiv has split NATO allies. While some favor giving them to Ukraine to bring about Russia’s defeat in the war, those opposed to the move say giving western fighter aircraft to Ukraine will pitch Russia against NATO.