EXPLAINER: Why does Ukraine need foreign warplanes?

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA and MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a “desperate” plea to the United States to help Kyiv get more warplanes to fight Russia’s invasion. The U.S. is inclined to support the request and says it’s looking “very, very actively” at a proposal under which Poland would send a number of Soviet-era fighter jets to Ukraine and would receive F-16 fighters from the United States to make up for the loss. Poland, however, has been less than enthusiastic in public as its supply of MiGs to Ukraine could be seen as escalatory by Russia and open it up and possibly other NATO members to retaliation. Russia warned Sunday that supporting Ukraine’s air force will be seen as “engagement in the military conflict.”