Supplying Ukraine with Polish MiG fighter jets is “within the rules of the game,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) as policymakers debate how …
Supplying Ukraine with Polish MiG fighter jets is “within the rules of the game,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) as policymakers debate how far the U.S. should go in supporting the fight against Russia. Cassidy’s comments at The Hill’s Future of Education event came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a dramatic address before the U.S. Congress, in which he called for increased American military aid. The Biden administration initially signaled openness to a plan to send Polish fighter jets to Ukraine, after which the U.S. would send more modern jets to replenish Poland’s military. However, when details of the plan became public, the Pentagon rejected the proposal, saying it risked provoking Russia and escalating the war. Cassidy suggested there was a way to get the fighter jets into Ukraine without overt U.S. involvement. “Personally, it wouldn’t bother me if a group of Ukrainian tourists happened to step into a MiG in Poland and fly them to Ukraine and never come back,” Cassidy said. Raising the question of whether the move could be escalatory, Cassidy noted that Russians supplied North Vietnamese troops with MiGs during the Vietnam War.
