The backstory of how this all went down in Warsaw is both hilarious and terrifying, FYI.
From what I've heard from a senior Polish military official, the decision to send the MiG-29s to Ukraine -- clandestinely -- was taken a while ago. Then what happened?
Well, people in the PM's cabinet went around boasting of it to foreign diplomats, which may have been why Borrell shot his wad prematurely. Then the Ukrainians (Air Force and Rada) followed suit. Whoops. So much for the element of surprise!
Last night, this source messaged me: "To sum up, we will pass those fighters to UA under wraps, but I don't call it 'in secret' since this now a total farce."
They want to send them to Rammstein, too, so they're parked, de-NATO-fied and reflagged on German, not Polish, soil. Points for imagination on that one, I suppose.
What I don't know but would suspect is that Zelenskyy saw what a shit-show this had become and purposefully brought up getting fighter jets on that call with U.S. legislators to make sure the plan went ahead anyway. Indeed, look at the bipartisan support for it.
(I realize now I spelled Ramstein like the death metal band, for which I'd normally apologize but under these circumstances, I won't.)
Oh Christ, now I'm getting messages about what genre of metal Rammstein is.
The MiG-29s no one wanted except Ukraine. This is why we can't have nice things.
https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1501333459972800527
"Heya pal, whatcha got there?"
"Pierogis."
"Oh yeah?"
"Old family recipe. Only served in Lviv."
"All right, come on through."
"Pierogis."
"Oh yeah?"
"Old family recipe. Only served in Lviv."
"All right, come on through."
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