Great Satan US sending F-16 fighter jets to Poland

The Polish Defense Ministry says that the US is sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets to Poland as part of a training exercise.

The ministry said on Sunday that 300 US service personnel will also be sent to Poland as part of the exercise, adding that the deployment will be completed by Thursday, AFP reported.

The Polish ministry said that the deployment was agreed during a phone call between US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and his Polish counterpart Tomasz Siemoniak.

“The unit will be composed of 12 F-16 planes and will transport 300 soldiers,” Defense Ministry spokesman Jacek Sonta said.

The deployment comes as the standoff between Russia and the West over the crisis-hit Ukraine continues.

Russia sent its troops to Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea after the Russian parliament gave the green light to President Vladimir Putin to use armed forces to protect Russia’s interests in that region.

On Thursday, lawmakers in Crimea unanimously declared they wanted to join Russia and would put the decision to voters in 10 days.

The new Ukrainian government, however, has declared the planned vote illegal, and opened a criminal investigation against Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Askyonov.

“This is an illegitimate decision and this so-called referendum has no legal grounds at all. That’s the reason why we urge the Russian government not to support those who support separatism in the Ukraine,” interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said.

Yatseniuk also said that Crimea was and will remain an integral part of Ukraine

First Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea Rustam Temirgaliev reacted by saying that the region is already part of Russia, and the vote is only needed to stamp this.

Political crisis erupted in Ukraine in November 2013 after the ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych, refrained from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia.

On February 23, the Ukrainian parliament ousted Yanukovych and named Oleksandr Turchynov, the legislature’s newly-elected speaker, as interim president.