It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued an urgent appeal for fighter jets and other military aid as his country continues to stave off Russian forces.
"Zelensky's message is simple: 'Close the skies or give us planes,'" Senator Ben Sasse said of the Ukrainian leader's plea. said Zelensky had"made a desperate plea," asking the U.S. to facilitate the transfer of planes from Eastern European allies.
"These planes are very much needed. And I will do all I can to help the administration to facilitate their transfer," Schumer said. The U.S. is considering sending American-made F-16s as backfill to former Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe that are now members of NATO and those countries would then send Ukraine their own Soviet-era MiGs, which Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly, The Associated Press reported.
However, there appears to be a logistics problem in sending the F-16s to Poland or other East European allies because of a production backlog. According to the AP, those countries would essentially have to give their MiGs to Ukraine and accept an IOU from the U.S. for the F-16s.