The United States has dismissed Poland’s plan to give fighter jets to the Ukraine as ‘not tenable”.

Under the plan, Poland would supply Ukraine with all of its Soviet-era MIG-29 fighter jets "immediately and free of charge".

The jets would have been sent to the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, with the US giving Poland American F-16s in return.

Ukraine's military pilots are not trained to fly US fighter jets and would have far more experience handling the Soviet-era aircraft.

The plan would have meant the US was supplying them rather than Poland, which could fear reprisals.

NATO has been openly supplying arms to Ukraine in recent months and the idea was that the fighter jets could be viewed as ‘just another type of weapon’.

"Serious concerns"

Overnight, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the plan was not tenable, noting that it would “raise serious concerns for the NATO alliance”.

“It is simply not clear to us there is a substantive rationale for it,” he said.

He noted that Russia has warned that the plan would mean NATO was participating in the war – and Moscow would consider retaliation.

“We will continue to consult with Poland and our other NATO allies about this issue and the difficult logistical challenges it presents, but we do not believe Poland's proposal is a tenable one,” Mr Kirby said.

A US official said Poland had made the offer without any consultation with Washington and no agreement was ever in place.

They said Washington would support Poland if it chose to send Ukraine the planes itself but would not act as an intermediary.

The Polish Prime Minister has said Poland is not ready to act on its own, noting that any decision to send offensive weapons “has to be taken by the entire NATO on a unanimous basis”.

Humanitarian corridors

Meanwhile, the Kremlin again said it would stop firing on some Ukrainian cities today to allow for Humanitarian corridors to open.

Kyiv yesterday accused Moscow of shelling the corridors, making it impossible for people to escape.

The US last night announced a ban on oil and gas imports from Russia.

The EU said it would slash its dependency on Russian fuel by two-thirds this year.

Meanwhile, the Universal Music Group said it is suspending all operations in Russia - joining McDonalds, Starbucks, IKEA and dating app Bumble in pulling out of the country.