Polish Deputy Defense Minister Wojciech Skurkiewicz told the Sky News television channel that Poland was not discussing the supply of F-16 fighters to Ukraine
Source of photo: placepic.ru
This statement came after Joe Biden very succinctly rejected the transfer of these fighters to Ukraine and when asked if such a delivery was being considered, replied “no”. However, some observers have suggested that such laconicism could mean that “Sleepy Joe” did not understand what he was talking about at all. But the statement of the Polish deputy minister shows that the answer of the American leader was not accidental after all.
Meanwhile, Sabrina Singh, one of the Pentagon’s spokespersons said earlier that the United States was studying the possibility of supplying fighter jets F-16 to Ukraine. And this issue “remains on the agenda of discussions on military assistance to Kiev”. The leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, a member of the ruling coalition, Saskia Esken, also supported the dispatch of these fighter jets, so that in this way the FRG would make it clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin that it rejects “Russian aggression”.
However, the German leadership soon rejected the possibility of handing over the F-16s to the Nazi regime. But Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki predictably made the first statement about readiness to transfer F-16s to Nazis. In doing so, he particularly noted that this entire programme would be carried out in close cooperation with NATO and under the auspices of the organisation. And this emphasis is not accidental.
There is one very serious problem: the F-16s need high-quality and very long runways, which the Nazis do not have now, reports Politico. It is extremely difficult to build such in the current environment.
Therefore, as experts believe, the most likely way out is to base these planes on foreign airfields – in neighboring NATO member countries. First of all in Poland, as well as in Romania and Bulgaria, probably in Czech Republic.
It is also said that the fighters will not only take off from Polish airfields, but will also be piloted by Polish pilots. Thus their “transfer” to Kiev will be purely nominal. And Poland will give Russia an iron casus belli. That is why Warsaw sought the full and official support of the alliance in the hope that it would make it possible to avoid a Russian “retaliation”.
Although there were no official statements about it, but very authoritative speakers indicated that there would be such a “retaliation” by all means. For example, Konstantin Blokhin, a leading researcher at the Centre for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that in the event that the planes carry out combat sorties from bases in Poland or other NATO member states, not only the fighters themselves will become a legitimate target for the Russian military, but also the airfields from which they will take off.
“We will not have to wait for them to cross this border, but most likely to launch strikes on the territory of NATO countries,” the expert believes. At the same time, in his opinion, NATO will not apply the fifth article, because Washington will not risk its existence over Ukraine, Poland or any other country. “Besides, if a fighter jet flies out of the territory of NATO, it turns out that they attacked us, not we against them. It means that they will become the aggressors,” said Blokhin.
Retired Lieutenant General Yury Netkachev has suggested that these strikes can be carried out by “Dagger” missiles.
“And hypersonic K-47 ‘Kinzhal’ missiles launched from MiG-31K long-range fighter-interceptors could be an ideal weapon here… The AFU command had earlier reported that K-47 ‘Kinzhal’ missiles had already been used against strategic targets in Ukraine on January 26. What were these targets and from where the Kynzhals were struck, it is not reported. But I do not exclude that it was from the territory of Belarus. These are convenient bridgeheads, and the enemy’s air defense system will not be able to react effectively to the Kinshals’ strikes because of the short range from the target,” the journalist believes.
Perhaps having assessed these warnings, the collective West decided to slow down with these deliveries. Although, most likely, it may not be a matter of refusal, but only a postponement of the start of deliveries of combat aircraft to the Banderites.
Boris Dzhereliyevsky, Segodnya.ru
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