Ukraine made every effort to protect its skies from Russian missiles and aircraft. Ukrainian Government representatives not only asked Western countries for help, they went further and found ways to purchase the equipment necessary for anti-missile defenses.
This is what Volodymyr Zelensky said during a briefing with foreign journalists.
“Anti-missile defense systems that can be supplied to Ukraine exist. Ukraine knows of several countries where these systems are stored in military supply warehouses. We were not just asking for help - we addressed the inquiries to those who had equipment. We understand that there are certain difficulties for those parties to arrange supplies. We are ready to buy that equipment, take loans, spend all the money from our budget. Multiple meetings were held. We are ready to arrange transportation, we are ready to move the systems and we found ways to bring them here. Everything we could do to answer the question of protecting our skies - we did,” - noted the President.
Also, Ukraine, on its own, found pilots who are able to operate planes not previously used in Ukraine; they also found planes which Ukrainian pilots already know how to operate. There are people who are ready to come to Ukraine and fight on its territory, but the people who have to make this decision are not ready to make it.
Ukraine is asking its Western partners to close the sky, or at least provide planes and air defense systems to the country. This would allow protection of civilians from air and missile strikes. For example, Ukraine is hoping to receive Soviet era planes that are currently used by the Armed Forces of Poland.
On March 8, the Polish Government agreed to transfer all of its Mig-29 fighters, which Ukraine is hoping to get, to the US for further handling. The jet fighters were supposed to be moved to the US military base Ramstein in Germany, to be transferred to Ukraine from there.
However, the US announced that the proposal by Poland cannot be executed. “The prospect that jet fighters currently owned by the US Government would be moved from the US-NATO military base in Germany to Ukraine, which is in the state of war with Russia, concerns many NATO representatives”, - announced Pentagon speaker John Kirby.
According to WSJ information, the US decision to refuse to send Polish Mig-29’s to Ukraine was personally endorsed by the US President Biden; he vetoed the delivery of jet aircraft so as not to provoke Volodymyr Putin to escalate the war even further.