President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s request to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine was quickly rejected by the U.S. Such a move would have created a requirement for the U.S. Air Force to start blasting Russian fighter jets out of the not-so-friendly skies which would have made the U.S. an active participant in a war it’s hoping can be avoided.
The premise for saying no was that Vlad would not have taken kindly to such retaliatory measures from the U.S. and would most likely have responded in a nuclear sort of way, and then ya got your WWIII.
This is not to infer that the U.S. isn’t preparing for what each passing day creeps closer to the inevitable might bring, but that gun’s not quite ready to be jumped yet.
Last month 4,700 of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Divisions finely trained soldiers made their way into Poland and lined the border with anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons.
The troops were able to open a pathway across the Polish border into Ukraine with which to supply more than willing Ukrainian civilians with weapons to fight off their invaders.
The time has drawn close enough to pull out the big guns, and the Russians should be afraid. Very afraid. The Pentagon has directed not one, but two, Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries to get their tails to Poland. They’re done playing.
The U.S. European Command said this will make the Russians think twice about what they’re hoping to achieve and should erase any silly notions Putin may have of stomping into a NATO country. The command said this will “proactively” counter “any potential threat.”
“This is a prudent force protection measure that underpins our commitment to Article Five and will in no way support any offensive operations,” said command spokesperson Scott Ghiringhelli. “Every step we take is intended to deter aggression and reassure our allies.”
The Russians have already rained down over 600 missiles on Ukraine but the Patriot systems are not intended to protect them. They’ll remain in Poland to fend off Russian missiles aimed at U.S. troops should Putin get froggy and jump the border his troops are creeping closer to each day.
Poland meant well when they announced how they would be “immediately” dispatching their entire fleet of MiG-29 Russian-built Fulcrum fighter jets to U.S. forces at Ramstein Air Base in Germany so they could send them to Ukraine.
These are the same type of fighter jets the Ukrainian pilots have been trained to fly and are accustomed to so the planes would allow them a better advantage.
It was shot down for the terrible idea it was seeing as how it would have left Poland defenseless to defend itself should the war spread. Pentagon Press Secretay John Kirby gave another solid reason to reject Polands’ generous but unwise offer.
“The prospect of fighter jets ‘at the disposal of the Government of the United States of America’ departing from a U.S./NATO base in Germany to fly into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” he said. “It is simply not clear to us that there is a substantive rationale for it.”
The best strategy for the U.S. and NATO at this point is to assist Ukraine from a close and observant distance but to also remain cognizant of who the world is dealing with in the Kremlin.
Invading Poland would be a logical sequence for Putin and it’s looking like that’s what may be on his twisted mind. But if the Russian military continues to fight as poorly as what we’ve seen thus far, the 82nd Airborne’s gonna have a field day and put this thing to rest quickly, and once and for all. Hoorah!