Ukraina - Dersom Senatet presser igjennom MiG-29 dealen, kan NATO bli direkte involvert - Defense News

 

Frustrated lawmakers blast stalled transfer of European aircraft to Ukraine

By Joe Gould

 Mar 10, 08:09 PM

Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J., left, and Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, are seated during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations to examine U.S.-Russia policy with testimony from Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

WASHINGTON ― Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle grilled Biden administration officials Thursday over the Pentagon’s rejection of Poland’s surprise plan give the United States its MiG-29 fighter jets for use by Ukraine to repel Russia’s mightier forces.

The hearing, in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, let lawmakers vent their anger that Ukraine’s pleas for the aircraft to combat Russia were going unmet. U.S. defense officials have called a potential three-way deal untenable and suggested Ukraine would benefit most from more of the U.S.-supplied weapons it uses effectively every day, including anti-aircraft Stinger and anti-tank Javelin missiles.

“The Ukrainians are getting bombarded, and they do not have ― at least as their country’s leaders suggest and assert ― the wherewithal to compete in the sky,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., the chair of the panel.

“I understand why NATO and the United States are not engaged in a no-fly-zone ― that it has potential direct conflict with Russia ― but I don’t understand why we are not working expeditiously to facilitate planes to Ukraine.”

The Senate’s Republican caucus is unanimously in favor of giving jets to Ukraine, said the panel’s ranking member, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho. He was among lawmakers who criticized the administration as moving too slowly and for second-guessing Ukraine about its own needs.

“We need to help these people, and not tomorrow but today,” Risch said. “This stuff needs to start moving. So I don’t know what juice you have up there to push this thing along, but I’m telling you this is an embarrassment to be here, and be in a position where we can give them something to defend themselves with, and not being able to do it.”

Washington has been looking at a proposal under which Poland would supply Ukraine with its 28 Soviet-era MiG-29s and in turn receive American F-16s to make up for their loss. But the Pentagon ruled out the move, saying that in the face of Russian anti-aircraft systems, it wouldn’t make Ukraine’s forces more effective and that Russia could view the move as escalatory, prompting it to retaliate.

The hearing came a day after Gen. Tod D. Wolters, head of U.S. European Command, released a statement calling the prospect of adding jets to Ukraine’s military, “high-risk and low gain,” adding that they would not “appreciably increase the effectiveness” of Ukraine’s air force.

Russia has declared that supporting Ukraine’s air force would be tantamount to joining the war, and could spur retaliation.