Germany will definitely not ship warplanes to Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz mentioned on Wednesday after the United States rejected a suggestion by Poland to switch its Russian-made MiG-29 jets to a US base in Germany.

The US rejection had additionally prompted the Polish Prime Minister to make clear that any provide of fighter jets to Ukraine should be finished collectively by NATO nations.

Asked concerning the supply of Polish MIGs, the Kremlin described it as a probably harmful and undesirable state of affairs.

Ukraine has pleaded with Western nations to offer it with fighter jets to counter a Russian invasion that has pressured greater than two million refugees to flee the nation, and US lawmakers have responded by pushing President Joe Biden’s administration to facilitate the switch of plane.

On Tuesday, Poland mentioned it was able to deploy all its MIG-29 jets to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and put them on the disposal of the United States, urging different NATO members to do the identical. The Pentagon later dismissed the supply as not “tenable”.

“Such a serious decision as supplying planes must be unanimous and unequivocally made by the whole North Atlantic alliance,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki mentioned throughout a press convention within the Austrian capital Vienna broadcast on Polish tv. “We did not agree to supply planes by ourselves because it must be the decision of the whole of NATO,” he added.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski advised public radio station Polskie Radio 1 that Poland needed to prioritise its safety when contemplating the availability of jets to Ukraine. “It cannot be that Poland has – as the only NATO country – to take the risk, and the other countries would not have to compensate or share it with us in any way,” he mentioned.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has additionally repeatedly requested the West to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine, however the US and its NATO allies have rebuffed these calls fearing a direct confrontation with Moscow.

Russia’s Defence Ministry has warned that nations providing airfields to Ukraine for assaults on Russia could also be thought-about as having entered the battle.

The MIG-29 is a fighter jet that was developed within the Soviet Union and as Ukraine’s army already flies Russian-made plane it’s your best option for Ukrainian pilots who already know how one can function them, consultants say. Combat pilot coaching on US-made plane can take years and requires a unique pipeline for upkeep.