Washington, March 9 ( /Sputnik) The US believes that the transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine would be of high risk, Pentagon Spokesperson John Kirby said. “We assess transfer of MiG to Ukraine [as] high risk,” Kirby told on Wednesday. Kirby said that US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart by phone. “Just before coming out here, the Secretary wrapped up a phone call with the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Minister (Oleksii) Reznikov as one of his ongoing series of calls with counterparts,” Kirby said. “The call really just concluded so I don’t have much context to provide for you there.” The spokesperson said that the US does not support giving more aircraft to the Ukrainian air force and does not want them in custody. “We don’t support giving Ukraine more fighter aircraft, don’t want them in our custody,” Kirby said. The deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles to Poland by the US is a temporary action and will likely end in the systems’ return to Germany, Kirby said. “As for the Patriot missiles, yes, this is a temporary deployment to Poland, given the circumstances that we’re in. These Patriot batteries had already been deployed into Germany, and I suspect that at the appropriate time they’ll go back there,” Kirby said. The US Defence Department has seen reports of a strike on a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, but cannot verify them, Spokesperson Kirby said. “I’ve seen those same reports you have, but we are not in a position to be able to independently verify that,” Kirby said. “If it is true, and we have no reason to doubt that it is true, we just can’t independently verify.” /SPUTNIK VP
