Biden ‘personally killed Polish jet deal’ despite Republican AND Democrats ramping up calls to give Ukraine combat planes to make Putin ‘fearful of what WE might do’

Despite desperate please from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pressure from lawmakers at home, President Biden killed the Polish plan to transfer MiG-29 jets to Ukraine, fearing the deal might be viewed as an escalation of tensions by Vladimir Putin.

The diplomatic blunder that began with a top European Union diplomat promising the jets to Ukraine ended when Poland suggested it would give the jets to the U.S. to deliver to Ukraine, and the U.S. said that was Poland’s responsibility.

Then, U.S. defense officials killed the project entirely, saying they would not support either transferring the jets themselves or backing up Poland in doing so.

‘We do not support the transfer of the fighters to the Ukrainian air force at this time and have no desire to see them in our custody either,’ Press secretary John Kirby told reporters Wednesday, as he described the sentiment of a call between Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin and his Polish counterpart.

He said that the Pentagon had assessed the warplanes would not materially improve Ukraine’s defense posture, while it would escalate the prospects of drawing NATO, of which both the U.S. and Poland are a part, into direct conflict.

Critics have noted that the U.S. has already delivered hundreds of millions in lethal aid to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to US lawmakers over the weekend and asked them help facilitate the transfer of jets, including MiG-29s, to Ukraine. Ukraine currently has between 37 and 70 MiG-29s.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the U.S. and Poland of playing games with people’s lives.  ‘Listen,’ the Ukrainian leader pleaded, ‘We have a war! We do not have time for all these signals. This is not ping pong! This is about human lives! We ask once again: solve it faster.’

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