impact these polish migs will have if they are delivered, but there was a noticeable shift in tone here in washington after president zelenskyy appealed correctly to u.s. lawmakers on that conference call saturday. the nsc and state department are, as you mentioned, actively discussing how to help poland provide ukraine with the mission and sukhoi war planes that ukraine s pilots already know how to fly. when it comes to planes, we are being assured that talks are underway and the solution is close. the problem is that we have no time for talks and solutions. we need them now. reporter: originally poland wanted the u.s. to provide it with replacement f-6s, but it takes time to retrofit those for foreign sales. what s being discussed is tearily honing temporarily loaning some f-16s. poland is asking for 40,000 nato troops.
as though your blueprint is going to work fast enough to help save lives in ukraine. well, it s not my blueprint. i m suggesting that this is an avenue. or your strategy. this is the likely outcome of where, you know, the events will actually take us. but you re right to then ask ourselves what we, the west, should be doing as we see this carnage play out on our tv screens. and i believe public opinion will demand us to do more. we ve been far too hesitant, too risk averse in arming the ukrainians themselves. you touched on the fact that we re having this debate between defensive weapon systems and offensive. we re having this debate, which i understand biden actually overruled to allow those polish migs to be moved across to ukraine. these are all things that could have been done and should have been done. but, you know, they have sent a terrific amount to the ukrainians. according to a us official quoted on cnn television last week, nato and the us have sent a total of 17,000 anti ta
four pillars, as you say, to kind of take effect. so what s your idea to stop the killing now? because it doesn t seem as though your blueprint is going to work fast enough to help save lives in ukraine. well, it s not my blueprint. i m suggesting that this is an avenue. or your strategy. this is the likely outcome of where, you know, the events will actually take us. but you re right to then ask ourselves what we, the west, should be doing as we see this carnage play out on our tv screens. and i believe public opinion will demand us to do more. we ve been far too hesitant, too risk averse in arming the ukrainians themselves. you touched on the fact that we re having this debate between defensive weapon systems and offensive. we re having this debate, which i understand biden actually overruled to allow those polish migs to be moved across to ukraine. these are all things that could have been done and should have been done. but, you know, they have sent a terrific amount to the ukraini
majority leader chuck schumer wrote in part, quote, congress remains unwavering in our commitment to supporting ukraine as they face putin s cruel and die bog cal aggression. we look forward to the privilege of welcoming president zelenskyy s address to the house and senate and to convey our support to the people of ukraine as they bravely defend democracy. david ignatius, i somehow think the topic of polish migs may come up. what do you think will be on zelenskyy s mind when he addresses the joint session of congress? i would against that he s going to thank the united states for supporting him. he s going to ask for more help. he is going to say we stand alone fighting the fight that we all share against putin s authoritarian rule, but i would be surprised if he wasn t in a mood to thank america. we re putting now billions of dollars into support for ukraine. i think he is going to ask for
not a no-fly zone over the country. the u.s. has gone back on a suggestion that maybe they could help transfer the polish migs, the jets to ukraine. what goes through your mind when you see the praise, but nobody giving zelenskyy what he s asking for? well, you re showing the disappointment by the ukrainian people. there is another thing that s very important to understand, that the government and the whole world, civilized world has united to go against russia. i believe the most important thing that the world doesn t have a really updated instruments and mechanisms to go against a country that spreads terrorism and instability around the world. and russia is clearly using