London and Berlin refuse to even discuss the supply of combat aircraft to Kyiv
The UK will not be transferring fighter jets to Kyiv in the coming months or even years.
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace announced this on February 15, PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
A day earlier, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also ruled out the supply of German fighters to Ukraine.
“I don’t think we will hand over fighter jets in the next few months or even years. The question now is how we can help Ukraine - help itself, and assemble enough other weapons to make it impossible for Russia to advance,” said Ben Wallace.
According to him, if the British government donates fighter jets to Kyiv, it will also have to provide about 200 British Air Force personnel. Wallace did not develop the topic, but on February 13, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said:
“We need to clearly distinguish: sending NATO planes with pilots to enforce a no-fly zone in Ukraine is NATO’s participation in the conflict; supplying planes to Ukrainians will not make NATO a party to the conflict.”
The German Defense Minister was more diplomatic than his British counterpart in assessing the possibility of supplying Kyiv with combat aircraft, but, in essence, he said the same thing. Boris Pistorius has ruled out the supply of German fighter jets to Ukraine now and said the issue could be discussed in a few months.
“If the skies over Ukraine remain safe over the next three to four months, then we can talk about all the further steps. Now it makes sense to use armored units,” Pistorius said.
According to him, the issue of supplying fighter jets to Kyiv “is not yet in the spotlight.”
London and Berlin refuse to even discuss the supply of combat aircraft to Kyiv.