Because with the link, you can click the following as see the entire article: https://archive.ph/pKNGb
I don’t see that link anywhere on the site.
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US works with Poland to provide Ukraine with fighter jets
Kyiv ratchets up pressure on west to bolster its air force so it can repel Russian air strikes
This picture released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on Sunday shows what is said to be the wreckage of a Russian military aircraft on the outskirts of the city of Chernihiv
Demetri Sevastopulo and Stefania Palma in Washington 9 MINUTES AGO
The US is working with Warsaw on a deal to provide Ukraine with Polish fighter jets as Kyiv ratchets up the pressure on the west to help boost its air force capabilities so it can repel Russian air strikes.
The deal would involve Ukraine receiving Russian-made warplanes from Poland, which would then be given American F-16s by the US to refill its stocks. It comes amid fears Russia will increase aerial attacks given the slow progress of parts of its ground campaign.
The White House said it was negotiating with Poland and consulting other Nato allies but that there were “a number of challenging practical questions, including how the planes could actually be transferred from Poland to Ukraine”.
“We are also working on the capabilities we could provide to backfill Poland if it decided to transfer planes to Ukraine,” a White House spokesperson said.
The Polish defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
The deal emerged following a day of intense pressure from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his foreign minister, who both said that if Nato will not institute a no-fly zone over the country then it should provide its air force with fighter jets.
The Financial Times reported earlier on Saturday that Zelensky had made an emotional plea for the US to give Poland and other eastern European allies F-16 fighter jets that would then enable those countries to send their Russian-made warplanes to Ukraine.
In a call with almost 300 US lawmakers on Saturday morning, Zelensky said Ukraine badly needed more aircraft, particularly after Nato decided against creating a no-fly zone because it would risk a broader conflict with Russia, according to people familiar with the call.
Ukrainian pilots need Russian-made aircraft because those are the systems they have been trained to fly.
Washington is working to provide more support to Ukraine and this week started sending anti-aircraft stinger missiles — the same weapon that the US provided the Mujahedeen to repel the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.
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One US lawmaker who took part in the call said Zelensky had expressed appreciation for the stingers, but said they were insufficient because they were not able to fly high enough to take out some Russian aircraft.
While the US and allies have supplied a range of weapons to Ukraine, they are worried that Putin would view the provision of warplanes as an escalation that he might interpret as Nato effectively entering the conflict against Russia. Earlier on Saturday, Putin said Moscow would consider the institution of a no-fly zone by any third party as “participation in the armed conflict”.
Ukraine said some eastern European nations had agreed to provide fighter jets, but the claims were denied. Polish president Andrzej Duda has previously said sending planes would be tantamount to interfering in the conflict.
One person familiar with the situation said the Biden administration had previously indicated to Poland that it could not provide American fighter jets. The White House denied that the US had opposed the idea to send Russian-made fighters to Ukraine, saying it was “a sovereign decision for any country to make”.
Brendan Boyle, a Philadelphia Democratic congressman who participated in the zoom call, told the Financial Times that there was broad bipartisan support in Congress to find creative solutions. He pointed to the example of the US passing the Lend-Lease Act during the second world war to make it easier to provide countries with war supplies and weapons.
“We have to start looking at analogies to the Lend-Lease Act in terms of a 2022 version of it for Ukraine,” Boyle said. “There is widespread bipartisan support in Congress and also popular American support for doing everything we can to arm the Ukrainians. Politically speaking, this is a relatively easy lift.”
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba made a similar plea during a meeting on Saturday with his US counterpart Antony Blinken along the Poland-Ukraine border, saying it was “no secret that the highest demand that we have is in fighting jets, attack aircraft, and air defence systems”.
Kuleba added: “If we lose the skies, there will be much, much more blood on the ground, and that will be the blood of civilians.”
Asked if the US would consider the request, Blinken said “we are talking about and working on everything”, adding that US defence secretary Lloyd Austin was working closely with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov.
A senior US defence official on Friday said the Pentagon had provided Ukraine with $240mn in military assistance from the $350mn President Joe Biden recently approved. She said the remaining $110mn would likely arrive in Ukraine over the next week and that the administration was working with Congress to secure more funds.
Additional reporting by James Shotter
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Asked if the US would consider the request, Blinken said “we are talking about and working on everything”, adding that US defence secretary Lloyd Austin was working closely with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov.
A senior US defence official on Friday said the Pentagon had provided Ukraine with $240mn in military assistance from the $350mn President Joe Biden recently approved. She said the remaining $110mn would likely arrive in Ukraine over the next week and that the administration was working with Congress to secure more funds.