On March 8th, the Pentagon announced their unwillingness to facilitate the transfer of Polish MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine using USAF base in Germany. It appears that the US is afraid to share the risks associated with this transfer and wants, instead, Poland to bear it alone when providing this critical resource to Ukraine. 

While Poland is a NATO member, it is situated immediately adjacent to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and has significantly less military capabilities than the US to defend itself if attacked. Their citizens, as well as the over a million Ukrainian refugees, will be immediately in harms way should Russia decide to attack Poland due to direct transfer of the planes. Under such circumstances, the US will ultimately be compelled to defend Poland according to Article 5 of NATO treaty and become directly involved in the conflict. It is therefore in everyone's best interests for the US to facilitate the transfer of planes to Ukraine per Poland's proposal. 

People in Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy against the adversary equipped with significantly more capable offensive weapons, like ballistic and cruise missiles. Defending its airspace is essential to protect their military and civilian targets against Russian onslaught, which is becoming less and less discriminate each day resulting in more civilian deaths and suffering.

As a signatory to the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, the United States has an obligation to assist Ukraine against Russian aggression. All the humanitarian aid will be for naught without the critical resource these planes represent to protect the Ukrainian airspace. The Polish proposal is already extremely generous, and it is simply morally irresponsible on our part to insist that "the decision about whether to transfer Polish-owned planes to Ukraine is ultimately one for the Polish government".

Let us show by our deeds that the United States is the moral leader of the world. While Ukrainians defend our common values with their bravery, Poles with their generosity, let us do our part and hold up our end of agreements by providing our any assistance we can to stop the tyranny.

This view is undoubtedly shared by many Americans as demonstrated by recent massive pro-Ukraine rallies. We ask the President, our elected representatives in the United States Congress, the Pentagon and other government officials to see the Polish proposal implemented as soon as possible and, hopefully, encourage similar deals with Bulgaria and Slovakia.