US Mulls Deal to Get MiGs to Ukraine

While NATO has ruled out a no-fly zone thus far, Poland has considered sending MiGs for the Ukrainian forces to fly, but it is holding off – potentially until the United States can guarantee to backfill the NATO ally with planes.

The U.S. is considering sending American-made F-16s as backfill to former Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe that are now members of NATO. They, in turn, would send Ukraine their own Soviet-era MiGs, which Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly.

"We are working with Poland as we speak to see if we can backfill anything that they provide to the Ukrainians," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

Blinken indicated Saturday the fighter jets are under consideration after meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba at the Poland-Ukraine border outside the town of Korczowa.

"We are talking about and working on everything," Blinken told reporters.

Blinken reiterated the U.S. support for Ukraine "not only has been unprecedented, not only is it going to continue, it's going to increase."

There appears to be a logistical problem, however, in sending the F-16s to Poland or other East European allies because of a production backlog. These countries would essentially have to give their MiGs to the Ukrainians and accept an IOU from the U.S. for the F-16s. The situation is further complicated because the next shipment of F-16s is set for Taiwan, and Congress would be reluctant to delay those deliveries as it eyes China.

"We are working with the Poles on this issue and consulting with the rest of our NATO allies," a White House spokesperson told Politico. "We are also working on the capabilities we could provide to backfill Poland if it decided to transfer planes to Ukraine."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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