President: Pause in closure of sky over Ukraine has already become deadly

“We are doing everything to finally secure our sky. I am grateful to the vast majority of Ukrainians who support this position. Those who collect signatures, who convince their acquaintances in the West, write on social networks, organize rallies. Together we must return courage to some Western leaders. So that they finally do what they had to do on the first day of the invasion. Either close the Ukrainian sky from Russian missiles and bombs, or give us fighter jets so that we can do everything ourselves. A pause without a decision has become simply deadly,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his address.

As reported, on March 8, the Polish authorities announced their readiness to hand over all their MiG-29 fighters in United States’ disposal. At the same time, Warsaw expects Washington to hand over aircraft with similar operational capabilities and is ready to start negotiations on their purchase immediately.

Reacting to this statement by Poland’s Foreign Ministry, the Pentagon said it was still negotiating with the Polish side but Warsaw's proposal was so far "unacceptable" at this stage.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the West not to delay the issue of Poland's transfer of combat aircraft and not to shift responsibility to each other.