Poland not ready to independently send MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine

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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland is not ready to independently supply Ukraine with MiG-29 fighters, he told reporters in Oslo, Norway, answering a question about supplying fighters with weapons in Ukraine. 

"It must be emphasized that Poland is not a party to this war, and NATO is not a party to this war. Therefore, decisions regarding the supply of offensive weapons should be made at the level of the entire NATO. Therefore, in fact, we are ready to transfer part of our fighters to Ramstein [US airbase in Germany], but we are not ready for any independent steps," Morawiecki said. 

Today, Tuesday, the Polish Foreign Ministry said that Warsaw is ready to send its MiG-29 fighters to the US and deliver them to Ramstein. 

US, UK use Poland as 'logistical hub' for weapons, foreign mercenaries

The military operation against Ukraine has crippled the country's military might, thus inviting mercenaries from foreign countries to participate in the war against Russia.

Yesterday, according to Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, nearly 20,000 foreign mercenaries are looking to fight alongside the rapidly-diminishing ranks of Ukraine’s crippled military.

Read more: 450 Arab and foreign extremists from Idlib arrive in Ukraine

The Ukrainian government has recently opened a website for mercenaries to join the war in "defense of the motherland." 

Although it is unclear how many mercenaries have really entered the country, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service warned in a statement that "US and UK intelligence services in recent weeks have de facto turned Polish territory into a 'logistical hub' used to supply weapons and smuggle fighters.”

As the situation escalates, Poland seems to have become a logistical hub - a prominent one at that - for weapon storage to be shipped to Ukraine and a channel for foreign mercenaries flowing into Ukraine - however, the implications for this aren't clear. 

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken prodded Polish authorities and told CNN that the US strongly supports Poland in “providing MiGs, SUs, planes that Ukrainians can fly, to the Ukrainians.” However, Poland seems to have rejected that, especially after the Russian Defense Ministry warned against it. 

Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Spokesperson, said that any decision issued by "neighbors" to offer Ukraine the use of their airfields - or a No-Fly Zone - will be regarded as the involvement of these states in an armed conflict. 

After this, the Polish Foreign Minister rejected the possibility and condemned it, slamming it as "fake news" spread by a tweet by Nexta, a US-funded, anti-Russia news outlet founded by a Belarusian ex-fighter for the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.