Ignoring Russia’s Warnings, US and Allies Escalate Military Aid to Ukraine

Ignoring warnings from Russia, the US and its NATO allies continue to escalate the military assistance they are providing to Ukraine.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that Ukraine has received fighter jets and aircraft parts but declined to say which country they came from. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Ukrainian forces “right now have available to them more fixed-wing fighter aircraft than they did two weeks ago.”

The fighter jets likely came from a NATO member that was formerly a Soviet state, as Ukraine’s air force is only trained to use older Russian-made aircraft. Earlier in the war, the US was in talks with Poland on transferring Warsaw’s MiG-29 jets to Ukraine, but the Pentagon backed out of the plan, warning Moscow would view such assistance as escalatory.

But now, it appears whatever risks the Pentagon assessed came with sending warplanes to Ukraine are worth taking. Russia formally told the US in a diplomatic letter last week to stop arming Ukraine, but the warning was shrugged off, and the US and NATO have since moved to send heavier weapons into Ukraine.