Shrewsbury MP calls for US planes to be sent to Poland

Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, praised the British Government's decision to deploy its Challenger 2 tanks to Poland, enabling the Polish Army to sent Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine.

But he called for the US to enter a similar arrangement with regard to aircraft, which he said were much needed by the Ukrainian air force.

Mr Kawczynski, who was born in Poland, called on Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to raise the matter at the forthcoming Nato meetings.

During a debate in the House of Commons, Mr Kawczynski said: "To my knowledge, there has not been an agreement within Nato to facilitate Polish MiG fighter jets being sent to Ukraine.

"As this war continues, we are very much aware of the need for the Ukrainians to have additional air capability to take on the Russians. Will he use his good auspices in the coming NATO meetings to press our American allies on this issue?"

Mr Wallace said Mr Kawczynski had made a good point.

"This is really about bilateral enabling rather than Nato, as an organisation, but he is right," he said.

Mr Wallace said the Ukrainians were more in need of ground attack aircraft than air-to-air ones, so Su-30s would be more useful than MiG-29s.

He said he would raise the matter with his US counterpart.

"It is important, but at the moment we are focused on the deep long-range artillery," he added.