BIG WIN for President Joe: "NATO countries have "green light" to send fighter jets to Ukraine"

[Tommymac]

I have no doubt President Biden is the man behind the curtain, working the room with his diplomatic magic.



(Trying to get clip from Face The Nation where this was announced this morning. Will update when available.)

Blinken says NATO countries have "green light" to send fighter jets to Ukraine
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-russia-war-fighter-jets-antony-blinken-face-the-nation/
Washington — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that NATO members have the go-ahead to send fighter jets to Ukraine as the U.S. and allies continue their efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion.

"That gets a green-light," Blinken said in an interview with "Face the Nation" when asked whether the Polish government, a member of NATO, could send fighter planes to Ukraine. "In fact, we're talking with our Polish friends right now about what we might be able to do to backfill their needs if in fact they choose to provide these fighter jets to the Ukrainians. What can we do? How can we help to make sure that they get something to backfill the planes that they are handing over to the Ukrainians?"

[SheltieLover]

1. Yaaaaaay!

🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

[Achilleaze]

2. Thanks, Joe

[SheltieLover]

3. But, if Poles gift planes & putin attacks Poland, NO EXCUSES!

On edit: adding clarification. No excuse for NATO not to defend Poland in above scenario!

Ty, Joe!!!!

[Walleye]

5. I think if they drop one bomb on Poland it's on

That will mean total war

[SheltieLover]

8. Well, putin will not like Poland gifting planes

And one would think the 1994 Ukraine nuke disarmament would have triggered international support when putin attacked them this time.

I'm very anti-war, but fed up with Putin threarening & destabilizing the world!

[Walleye]

9. I am also antiwar, but I am even more anti-bully

I expect to hear some so-called Americans repeating Putin’s lies. The Republicans have painted themselves into a corner

[SheltieLover]

10. I am extremely antibully!

No doubt they are painted into a corner.

[AZLD4Candidate]

20. They would rather be Russian than a Democrat

Remember their idiotic shirts?

[SheltieLover]

22. Yup!

I wonder if that holds true now that rubles are worthless?

[Eyeball_Kid]

26. Russians will soon need a bartering system.

"I'll give you two chickens and a half liter of vodka for a pair of socks."

As the ruble is now less than a penny in worth, a loaf of bread has probably quadrupled in cost. Wheat seeds have likely skyrocketed in cost. Farmers can't borrow money to finance their spring crop. So how are they going to plant their wheat?... The big crisis in Russia will hit in a few months.

[SheltieLover]

28. Hopefully, they have the foresight to revolt or remove poot now!

[MontanaMama]

30. Rubles are worthless and so are

Republicans.

[SheltieLover]

31. Yes, they both are!

[panader0]

39. That'd be a great bumper sticker.

[soldierant]

38. If there were no bullies, there'd be no wars.

[Crunchy Frog]

14. There should have been provisions built into that agreement

for the defense of Ukraine in case it's territorial integrity was breached. This could have been nipped in the bud back in 2014.

[SheltieLover]

15. Was it not?

Read a post earlier about it.

Seemed to me sophists were twisting words.

[dsc]

19. It was drawn in a way to avoid a military guarantee such as the one that Poland has

If he attacks Poland, Hungary, or Romania then we have no choice but to fight back.

[SheltieLover]

23. Bullshit rhetoric

I sure hope Poland doesn't get screwed!

[dsc]

40. It really isn't

at the time it was understood that we weren't offering a military guarantee. We did offer a large pot of money, a future ability to join NATO, and the UK, US, and Russia respecting the borders of Ukraine. Poland has full NATO protection and would clearly lead to a war with Russia if attacked. I think Ukraine should have driven a harder bargain back in 1994.

[SheltieLover]

41. I guess if they truly understood what they were signing...

But this is why we don't negotiate with terrorists.

If shitbag putin honored the agreement, he wouldn't be murdering right now in Ukraine.

[dsc]

42. they did and they didn't

I am sure they understood what the words meant but they had no way of knowing that Russia would come under the control of someone like Putin.

[SheltieLover]

43. Likely not

But Russia has a long history of tyrants & abuse.

Personally, I would have never signed anything but an ironclad guarantee!

I doubt shitbag would have attacked if they had retained nukes.

Just for the record, I am very anti-nuke.

When this is over, Russia absolutely must be forced to complete nuclear disarmament!

He has threatened the world several times, bombed 2 reactors, & bombed the physics institute, which has nuke material.

Russia absolutely must be forced to complete nuclear disarmament!

[Eyeball_Kid]

24. BFD. Putin doesn't want to lose! He'll stomp his feet and scream if he can win with those tactics.

But he's a bully.

NATO is walking the line, but they aren't crossing it. Extra fighter jets is a big win for UKR. Putin can't bully NATO into using HIS RULES only. More fighter jets for UKR means more body bags for Putin. He put his dictatorship on the line with this war. He's going to lose both his dictatorship AND the War. Russia is being nickeled and dimed back to the 1940s and Putin is to blame. And he'll be to blame as the military deaths pile up. Not only Russia, but most of the world is fed up with Putin. He gets no comfort from anyone... Except Trump... Speaking of which... Trump will be marketing Putin until well after Putin is dead. And he'll insist on the notion that loyalty to HIM means loyalty to Putin. Is anyone he's endorsed criticized Putin or Russia? There's your answer if you are curious.

[onecaliberal]

4. I'm so glad to hear.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. NATO countries now have the "green-light" to send fighter jets to Ukraine to help fight Russia

Link to tweet

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. Take that Republican fat fucks.

Joe Biden is showing us he is a man made of sterner stuff.

Take that Republicans. TDFG would not have done such a thing if there wasn't something in it for him financially. Quid pro quo.

[Totally Tunsie]

11. True this.

[erronis]

16. All those (r)epuglicons will deny their support of (and from) putin. And will blame Joe for

everything that could go wrong.

I hope the geneticists find the cluster of genes that make certain people behave this way and excise it. Better, replace it with some genes for empathy (which they are totally lacking.)

[CentralMass]

12. Russia has apparently been bombing runways in Ukraine.

[OMGWTF]

13. Get in the car; let's go save democracy!

[mysteryowl]

17. Excellent!

Ukraine needs the help!

[questionseverything]

18. I thought poland was sending planes 4 or 5 days ago?

I will believe this when I see it

Besides, as someone else mentioned, the run ways have been bombed now

[Slammer]

35. fighter jets

Poland, Slovakia, and Bulgaria had already committed to send all of their MiG-29's through the EU days ago and started taking delivery of them in Poland on Tuesday, if I recall the date correctly.

At least all of them "if the numbers they had to start with from Janes Defense are accurate" and "if the numbers the EU put out of the MiG-29's given to Ukraine from each of those countries is accurate".

Our US politicians keep talking about MiG-29's that NATO countries have but haven't given over based on talking to Zelenskiy yesterday.

But I've gone through the air force listings for each NATO nation and there's no more MiG-29's out there.

====

On the other hand,

Poland hasn't given over any of their air force's 18 Sukhoi-22 fighter bombers. There's an additional 14 of those in Poland which have been given over to technical schools, put on display in museums, or stripped for parts since they were taken out of service around 2015. Plus another couple of Sukhoi-20's were given to museums.

Now the Ukrainian air force hasn't flown the Sukhoi-22 (or -20) specifically but it does fly the -25, -25, and -27, which is likely close enough in an emergency.

Poland also has 11 Mil-Mi8 transport helicopters purchased from Russia around 2010.

Poland has contracted to buy 24 of those Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey. The first four were to be delivered this year. No idea whether they've been delivered yet but those could be easily diverted to Ukraine. Probably better used blowing up Russian armor now than being held to blow up Russian armor in the future.

====

Other NATO aircraft equipment similar to what Ukraine uses:

Bulgaria has 6 Soviet era Mil-Mi24 attack helicopters and 5 Mil-Mi17 transport helicopters.

Slovakia has 13 Mil-Mi17 transport helicopters.

The Czech Republic has 19 Mil-Mi8 helicopters which is exactly what Ukraine flies. No idea whether the Czech copters rigged for transport only or for being a gunship. It also has 15 Mil Mi-24 attack helicopters.

Romania has 23-28 MiG-21 fighters. That's a few generations earlier than what Ukraine flies and was first produced in the mid-1950's.

Croatia has 12 MiG-21 fighters. That's a few generations earlier than what Ukraine flies and was first produced in the mid-1950's. It also has 25 Mil Mi-17 transport helicopters, at least some of which are rigged for search and rescue.

North Macedonia has 12 Mil Mi-24 attack helicopters and 4 Mil Mi-17 transport helicopters (which is its entire air force).

Hungary has a close relationship with Putin and wouldn't give over any military equipment. But it has 15 Mil-Mi24 attack helicopters and 5 Mil Mi-17 transport helicopters.


That's a very thin list even if everything was given to Ukraine. A bunch of helicopters and 35-40 antique MiG's that aren't even up to the "end of the Soviet era" standards. Plus Poland's 18 (or potentially up to 40) Sukhoi-22 fighter bombers.

Not that Ukraine couldn't put all that to good use. But there's not some huge reserve out there which NATO countries are holding back from giving.

[WiVoter]

21. Well Done Mr. President!

It’s hard to keep the faith in times like this, but having a President and Vice President who are true patriots and great leaders that love their country, makes me feel safe and hopeful for the future, the future of our country and the world.

[KurtSteiner]

25. Great

That Mr Biden is recognizing this.

"We are drawing a line, and if we do not stand by it, our credibility in the world is severely diminished."

Leon Panetta

[WarGamer]

27. where are the UKR pilots going to fly out of?

[HUAJIAO]

32. This is definitely an issue..

Whether it is when they fly from Poland into Ukraine, whereby Russia will claim (rightly or wrongly) that Ukrainian pilots are 'attacking' from Poland. Or, where they will land and take off from in Ukraine with airports being bombed already...

I don't know the situation OR the answer.

[WarGamer]

33. The Russians will attack the moment they enter UKR airspace.

I wish the Ukrainian pilots well and hope some new Aces are minted.

[Kaleva]

44. The Russians still don't have total air superiority over Ukraine

It's debatable on whether or not the Russians could stop UKR pilots from flying Migs from Poland to UKR air bases in Ukraine

[WarGamer]

46. Here's what we do kow.

Russia hasn't deployed a single air superiority fighter over Ukraine, not a single SU-27 variant or SU-35.

Those are the "dogfighters".

They also haven't fired a single S400 battery.

You could be right. Or the Russians could decide to stop them.

[Gore1FL]

34. I suspect western Ukraine would be the safest.

It would seem their air elements are not all that effective; SAMs seems to be winning the day. As long as they are initially out of reach of that, I would think they would be OK.

[WarGamer]

36. the entire Polish border is within s400 range from the Belarus border region.

Bu they could fly South and enter UKR airspace through Romania.

[Kaleva]

45. The S400' has limited range against low flying targets

Curvature of the earth comes into play

[Kaleva]

47. I'm reading that the S400 is incapable of detecting a target below it's radar horizon

There are formulas that can determine a system's radar horizon and height of the search radar is critical. But I'm no mathmatician and I'll just try Google for the answer.

Back when I was in the Navy, the biggest threat we faced was the sea skimming cruise missile. Because they flew so low, we wouldn't be able to detect them untill they got around 20 nautical miles, more it less, from us.

[Demovictory9]

29. excellent

[DENVERPOPS]

37. Putin has certainly given our Media something to talk about.

Regretfully this has totally wiped out almost all media coverage of the Jan 6th investigation, that's for sure. Not to say in any way that was part of Putin's plan, just a side effect.


I think that we should round up all the Fredum fighters, Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, etc and fly them all over (with their guns and dress up military costume battle wear) and let them play "tough guys" with people that shoot back.....Take all the insurrectionists arrested for sedition and take them along for the ride. Plus The Republican Senators, Trump and his spawn, along with Jared, The Trump Cabinet, and his entire administration...............The planes could then load up Ukranian women and children and bring them back to the U.S.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

48. Poland has agreed to deploy *all* of its MiG-29 jets to the U.S. AB at Rammstein,

Link to tweet

Statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in connection with the statement by the US Secretary of State on providing airplanes to Ukraine
https://www.gov.pl/web/diplomacy/statement-of-the-minister-of-foreign-affairs-of-the-republic-of-poland-in-connection-with-the-statement-by-the-us-secretary-of-state-on-providing-airplanes-to-ukraine

The authorities of the Republic of Poland, after consultations between the President and the Goverment, are ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MIG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America.

At the same time, Poland requests the United States to provide us with used aircraft with corresponding operational capabilities. Poland is ready to immediately establish the conditions of purchase of the planes.

The Polish Government also requests other NATO Allies – owners of MIG-29 jets – to act in the same vein.