Poland has defended its bid to provide 28 MiG fighter jets to the US Army for transfer from Ukraine to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Jakub Kumoch, foreign policy adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda, said Wednesday that the initial impetus to supply planes alongside arms came from Brussels (referring to a suggestion made by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell last week).

Poland initially reacted cautiously to this before the country made a surprising offer including America on Tuesday.

Gerhard Gnauck

Political correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania based in Warsaw.

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Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Stephen Lowenstein

Political correspondent based in Vienna.

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Majid Sattar

Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.

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The reaction from Washington followed on Tuesday evening.

The Ministry of Defense called Warsaw's proposal "unsustainable".

The proposal to transfer the fighter jets to the Americans at their Ramstein airbase in Germany poses "difficult logistical challenges" and there are "serious concerns" about the geopolitical dimension, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

Victoria Nuland, the political director in the State Department, described the move, which was apparently not coordinated with Washington, as a "surprising move" in a Senate hearing.

“We have made our offer in plain language”

Warsaw used history to justify its actions, which had elicited such harsh rejection from the United States.

"We know from history such moments when someone far away neglected to do something and then the bill is issued to those who were there," said presidential adviser Kumoch, alluding to momentous omissions by the Allies in the first years of World War II.

“War crimes” are taking place in Ukraine today and action must be taken.

If something happens to Ukraine, that is, if Russia extends its sphere of influence in Ukraine to Poland's border, Poland, not the Baltic, will be the next target of Russian provocations.

"That's why we defend Ukraine as if we were Ukrainians ourselves." Regarding the criticism of the aircraft delivery, Kumoch said: "So now we know

that the United States does not want that.” Poland wants to act, but within the framework of the alliance.

"We made our offer in plain language."

More conciliatory tones came from Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Wednesday.

Poland will not supply fighter jets to Ukraine on its own, the Warsaw head of government said in Vienna, where he met Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

Morawiecki said Poland was only supplying "defensive weapons".

If aircraft are to be delivered, only NATO can do so, so Poland has submitted its proposals to the alliance.

As a "responsible politician" it is important to proceed "without additional provocation, steps that can lead to even more difficult scenarios".

“Poland is not a party in this war.

Such a decision as the transfer of the MiG must be that of the whole of NATO.