On the 12th day of armed conflict between Ukraine and Russiaafter the latter launched an offensive against the country led by Volodímir Zelensky, the Ukrainian country has taken a severe setback by one of the states that make up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)which he aspires to enter. All this, after Russia showed its predisposition to a possible ceasefire, although with conditions.
Today, the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, has denied information previously advanced by the United States. According to the words of Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Stateboth the US and Poland were working on the goal of sending fighter jets to Ukraine, as well as allowing their pilots to operate at its airports.
However, and nothing could be further from the truth, the Polish Prime Minister has denied that a collaboration was offered in these terms. “We will not provide fighter jets to Ukraine and nor will we make our airports available. We already provide significant help in many other areas,” Morawiecki said.
The Head of State of Poland, Andrzej Duda, had already anticipated at the beginning of last week that they would not carry out this action, hence the surprise at Blinken’s words. The explanation, shared by the rest of the NATO countries, is that it would have direct consequences with Russia. “We are not going to send any planes to Ukraine because that would mean military interference in the Ukrainian conflict. We will not participate in this conflict. NATO is not a party to this conflict. We are supporting Ukraine with humanitarian assistance, but there will be no Polish aircraft in Ukrainian airspace,” he stated.
Soviet era aircraft
Despite Duda’s words, Blinken said last Sunday that he was working together with Poland to support Ukraine by sending fighter jets, in order to balance forces with Russia. “We work very actively,” she said, not wanting to set deadlines. “We’ll see how we can compensate if Poland decides to supply these devices“.
The planes to which the North American head of state referred are war aircraft, MiG-29 and Su-25, from the Soviet era. Both models are still part of the Polish air fleet, with which the Ukrainian pilots are widely familiar. The way to “compensate” that Blinken spoke of could be, according to US media, the delivery of several F-16 fighters.
The Ukrainian president held a private video call with US lawmakers. In it he requested, according to the leader of the Republican caucus in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, the transfer of warplanes from Eastern European countries. Something that, if carried out, would mean enter fully into a conflict with Russia, who has already warned of the danger of supporting Ukraine in this way. In such a case, Russia would consider the bases from which the fighters were launched as a legitimate target.
The EU appreciates the inclusion of Ukraine
As the conflict unfolds, the European Union has begun the process to accept, in the future, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. These three countries presented, last week, their application to join the EU. This was reported by the French presidency of the Union, who asked the Commission a first step towards that path.
This beginning of the procedures consists of the elaboration of a report to decide if the countries that are already part of the EU grant applicants (Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) the candidate country status. An issue that the leaders of the Twenty-Seven will discuss later this week at the informal summit in Versailles (France).
The process, however, usually takes several years. Once Brussels finalizes its assessment, it will be the countries that must approve it unanimously, and from then on negotiations for its accession to the European community could begin. At the moment, Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro are in negotiations to join the EUwhile Albania and North Macedonia are already candidates to enter.
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