Poland will not send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, according to the country's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. However, he called on other nations to provide the aircraft at the soonest.
"We have too few F-16 aircraft. So at the moment today, there are no such expectations from us," Morawiecki said during a June 1 press conference on the first day of the European Political Community Summit in Moldova. Polskie Radio reported that the Polish leader also noted Warsaw's lack of Patriot air defense systems to send to Kyiv.
The Polish Air Force officially has 48 F-16 fighter jets, 12 of which are training variants. It has ordered 48 KAI T-50 Golden Eagle jets from South Korea and 32 F-35 jets from the United States. However, the 80 jets Warsaw ordered have not yet been delivered.
"We handed over our MiG-29 [jets] – good planes, good fighters – and this is greatly appreciated," Morawiecki added. Poland followed Slovakia in sending Ukraine some units from its fleet of 19 MiG-29 jets to aid the beleaguered nation.
The Polish prime minister added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked him for organizing the "F-16 coalition," pertaining to the effort by several members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets. While Poland and other NATO member states have offered to train Ukrainian pilots, it remains unclear where the planes would actually come from.
Morawiecki also shared some "bad news" regarding the Patriot air defense systems in Ukraine that were damaged or destroyed by Russian missile strikes.
"Just as we don't have enough F-16 fighter [jets], we can't hand over our Patriot systems to Ukraine for the same reason," he said. Nevertheless, the Polish leader exhorted other nations with Patriot systems "to share them with Ukraine as soon as possible."
"Patriots and F-16s are the latest 'game-changer' weapons Kyiv has demanded from the West to bolster its forces' combat capabilities against Russia, especially in the light of its planned counter-offensive," Russia Today (RT) pointed out.
Lavrov: Moscow will react to F-16 deliveries to Ukraine
Since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022, Kyiv has already received German Leopard, British Challenger and U.S. Abrams tanks. It has also received a plethora of towed and self-propelled NATO artillery, as well as portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft rockets. Poland has also become both a hub for arms supplies bound for Ukraine and a training ground for Ukrainian soldiers. (Related: Footage captures large amount of US military equipment at Polish port.)
Both the U.S. and the European Union have also provided direct financial aid to Kyiv to keep its government functioning, something Moscow has frowned upon. Russia has warned that military aid to Kiev makes Western countries de facto direct participants in the conflict. It has also emphasized that foreign weapons systems would be treated as legitimate targets on the battlefield.
Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated this warning, according to a May 29 RT report. The Russian military has the means to respond to Western F-16 jet deliveries to Kyiv, he said during a press conference in Kenya that day. Lavrov's comments came in response to an announcement by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Denmark and the Netherlands would be helping Ukraine prepare for the jets.
The Russian official said the actions by Copenhagen and Amsterdam were driven by their "desire to please the hegemon." He continued: "In European affairs and at European forums, these countries are actively pursuing Washington's line first and foremost."
Lavrov ultimately remarked that he had "no doubt" the Russian Armed Forces" have the ability to react to this." He refused to provide specific details on how Moscow will react to the aircraft deliveries.
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Watch this video about the U.S. and NATO agreeing to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
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