Poland becomes first nation to give Kyiv fighter jets

President Andrzej Duda said overnight on Thursday his country would send four Soviet-era MiG-29s ‘within the next few days’.

Clockwise From top left: On-board footage from a US Air Force MQ-9 drone as it is approached by a Russian SU-27 aircraft; as the Russian aircraft jettisons fuel while approaching the drone; the moment of the collision and the drone with a damaged propeller. Pictures: U.S. European Command via AFP

Poland has pledged to send fighter jets to Ukraine within days, becoming the first NATO member state to do so.

President Andrzej Duda said overnight on Thursday his country would send four Soviet-era MiG-29s “within the next few days” and more as soon as they had been serviced.

“A decision has been taken at the highest levels. We can say confidently that we are sending MiGs to Ukraine,” Mr Duda said.

Warsaw inherited MiG-29s from East Germany and Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly the aircraft. Western countries, including the US, have been wary about supplying warplanes to Ukraine over fears such a move would be seen by Moscow as a serious escalation.

The Polish offer came as new video footage emerged of a Russian fighter jet clipping and effectively bringing down a US military surveillance drone in the first direct clash between the nuclear superpowers since the start of the war.

The Russian SU-27 fighter jet dumped fuel on the American MQ-9 Reaper drone in an apparent attempt to damage the aircraft as it flew above the Black Sea, according to footage released late on Thursday by the Pentagon. The US said the fighter jet’s manoeuvres resulted in a collision with the drone, damaging a propeller and making it inoperable. The MQ-9’s video feed cut out for about 60 seconds, it said.

The drone plummeted into waters up to 1500m deep, making it hard to recover, Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said. Russia has said it will attempt to retrieve the MQ-9 for intelligence purposes.

Moscow has denied its jet clipped the drone’s propellers and Russian state television insisted on Thursday the video proved it had not sustained damage.

“(The propeller) continues to rotate calmly,” a Channel One presenter said. “Our pilots brilliantly performed manoeuvres at ultra-short distances.”

The US has said that while there is no doubt Russia’s behaviour was “aggressive”, it was unclear if the fighter jet had intended to bring down the drone. “Clearly we do not seek armed conflict with Russia,” General Milley said.

The incident, which took place close to Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014, highlighted the risks of an accident or miscalculation involving Moscow and Washington that could spiral out of control, analysts said.

Nikolai Patrushev, head of Russia’s National Security Council, said the presence of the drone so close to Crimea was “confirmation” the US was directly involved in the war in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, however, it was not seeking a confrontation.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, had their first phone conversation since October to discuss the incident. “We take any potential for escalation very seriously. And that’s why I believe it’s important to keep the lines of communication open,” Mr Austin said.

Poland’s move to become the first country to send MiG-29s to Ukraine does not alter the US decision against sending its own fighter aircraft to Kyiv, the White House said “It doesn’t change our calculus with regards to F16s,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, referring to the US-built fighter jet.

Russian officials are preparing to launch a recruitment drive for an extra 400,000 soldiers for President Vladimir Putin’s offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Mr Kirby said talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chinese leader Xi Jinping would be a “good thing”, but warned Beijing against taking a “one-sided” view of the conflict.

The Wall Street Journal reported the Ukrainian leader is set to talk with Mr Xi for the first time since Russia invaded in February last year. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba talked by phone. Beijing confirmed on Friday that Mr Xi would meet Mr Putin in Moscow next week.

Donald Trump made a pitch for anti-war voters in next year’s presidential election, demanding an overhaul of NATO in his latest campaign video. The former president called for a “total cessation of hostilities” in what he called “this proxy battle in Ukraine”, or “we risk global war”.

He has previously said he could end the Ukraine war in less than a day, telling Fox News Russia should be allowed to “take over something” as the price of peace.

Earlier this week Ron DeSantis, the Florida Governor expected to run for the White House, described the war as a “territorial dispute” that was not in America’s “vital national interest”.

The Times