U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the United States is looking at helping supply fighter jets to Ukraine and may consider banning Russian oil imports.
Blinken, speaking to several outlets during a Sunday morning press blitz, said that the United States was looking to provide Poland with F-16 fighter jets to backfill any planes they provide to Ukraine.
His comments come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly pleaded for a supply of military aircraft in the absence of a no-fly zone as Ukrainians defend themselves from aerial assaults amid Russia’s invasion of the sovereign nation.
“We are working with Poland as we speak to see if we can backfill anything that they provide to the Ukrainians. We very much support them, providing MiGs, SUs, planes that Ukrainian can fly, to the Ukrainians,” Blinken said in an interview transcript with CNN.
“We also want to see if we can be helpful, as I said, in making sure that whatever they provide to the Ukrainians, something goes to them to make up for any gap in the security for Poland that might result. We’re actively talking about that right now.”
Blinken added in an interview transcript with NBC that the decision to send planes to Ukraine is not a NATO decision, but “a sovereign decision by Poland.”
“If they choose to do it, we want to make sure that we can help them and, again, backfill what they’re giving so that they don’t have any loss in their own ability to provide security,” Blinken said.
In an interview with CBS News, Blinken said that any NATO country that wishes to send aircraft to Ukraine “gets a green light.”
Blinken added in comments to CBS News that the Ukrainian government has put a plan in place to continue the leadership of the nation if Zelensky were to be killed by Russian forces.
“The Ukrainians have plans in place that I’m not going to talk about or get into any details on to make sure that there is what we would call continuity of government one way or another. And let me leave it at that,” Blinken said.
The top diplomat also addressed the possibility of banning Russian oil imports during his Sunday interviews, telling CNN that it was a “very active discussion as we speak.”
“When it comes to oil, Russian oil, I was on the phone yesterday with [President Joe Biden] and other members of the cabinet on exactly this subject,” Blinken said. “We are now talking to our European partners and allies to look in a coordinated way at the prospect of banning the import of Russian oil while making sure that there is still an appropriate supply of oil on world markets.”
Zelensky, who met with members of the U.S. Congress on Saturday, asked lawmakers to stop buying Russian oil which would be “even more powerful than” blocking Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.
After the meeting, both Republicans and Democrats urged the Biden administration to consider banning Russian oil imports.
Blinken stressed in his interview with NBC News that the banning of Russian oil would not be done unilaterally by the United States, but in coordination with European allies.
“A hallmark of everything we’ve done to date has been this coordination with allies and partners. We are much more effective across the board when we’re doing things together in as close coordination as possible,” Blinken said. “There are instances where we each do something a little bit different, but it complements the whole.”
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If you people had a damned grain of sense, you would revive the fossil fuel industry which you so stupidly shut down. If we can regain energy independence, we can put the hurt on Russia big time.
Anyone in war who tells the enemy what they are about to do has no grain of sense but is outright stupid, or a traitor. Go get the Jets and Let Putin find out about them when they carve out a highway of death on his 40-mile caravan of Tanks. Better to ask for forgiveness later than permission up front when it comes to lethal engagements, Just how politically contaminated has our military leadership become? Be prepared for these Biden fools to get a lot of our our troops killed just like they are getting a lot of the Ukrainian troops killed, just like they got our own troops killed in Afghanistan. This is not naivety, but Communist corrupted American government,
Every move Biden has made has gone to strengthening the hand of Putin, up to and including the point where popular opinion overrides their treachery and their own power is placed in jeopardy where like Putin they move to protect themselves. Their every move proves the extent that there are high levels of enemy infiltration in the Biden administration, bent on disempowering American energy to Putin’s advantage. We are way past the point of needing another House on unamerican activity investigations. We need to move on people and declare a moratorium on Clean energy until the crisis has passed. Note – being threatened with nuclear war is a CRISIS.
Exactly. EVERY since the mid 80s, it seems our entire bloody govt, TELLS EVERYONE IN THE WORLD, what our military is going to be doing, and when, BEFORE WE EVEN GET TO DO IT.. Why is that?!
I don’t think Soros would let them do that because it appears that he hates the USA . Why would Soros back all of those Radical Lefty States Attorneys that are making our Justice System so chaotic if he supported America. Blinken is waiting for his orders be he speaks about anything.
THING IS, they Have no common sense.. THEY KEEP proving that, every day!
Biden and Blinken, lead from behind, buy oil from Russia. During World War II, Blinken and Biden would have supplied the Nazis and the Japanese military with aid! Idiots Biden and Blinken shared intelligence with the communist Chinese and then the communist Chinese shared the intelligence from the United States with Russia!!!!! These are the idiots we have in Washington D.C.