Allies split on possible sending of fighter jets to Ukraine

Ukraine's request for fighter-bomber planes to definitively change the course of the war against Russia once again divides the allies.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
31 January 2023 Tuesday 21:36
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Allies split on possible sending of fighter jets to Ukraine

Ukraine's request for fighter-bomber planes to definitively change the course of the war against Russia once again divides the allies. Joe Biden and the British Rishi Sunak are not for the job, while the French Emmanuel Macron and his counterparts from the Netherlands, Poland and the Baltic countries see it with good eyes. The new fissure opens days after the NATO partners overcame their disagreements over the shipment of tanks and agreed to a massive delivery of them from the US and Europe, including the initially reticent Germany.

Biden was concise and blunt when asked the night before last if Washington would provide F-16 fighters to Ukraine. "No," he said without further ado. Yesterday, the leader specified that he would discuss it with President Volodimir Zelensky. But it was not clear that it was to negotiate with him, but perhaps to explain his refusal.

The US president was not alone. The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, had said and repeated that "the question of combat planes does not even arise", with the addition that it did not seem advisable to him to enter a competition for arms offers to Ukraine, and at least a week later having settled the initial disagreement over the tanks.

The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, affirmed yesterday through a spokesman that the United Kingdom's fighter-bombers, Typhoon and F-35, "are very sophisticated teams" that require long times to train the pilots, so "we do not believe make it practical” to send them.

The Belgian Defense Minister, Ludivine Dedonder, pointed out for her part that the issue "is not on the agenda" and, in addition, the F-16s of her army are still "in service" to protect the airspace of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. .

President Macron, on the other hand, said on Monday that France does not exclude the shipment of jets to Ukraine, even if it is guaranteed that the planes will not touch Russian soil, that the measure will not lead to an increase in tensions and that the delivery will not weaken the capabilities of the French army. But "by definition, nothing is excluded with regard to the shipment of arms" to the invaded country, he said.

The French Defense Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, also announced yesterday the shipment of twelve new César self-propelled guns, bringing the number of units of this artillery weapon provided by France so far in the war to 30. Lecornu met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Olexí Réznikov, who was confident that his army will have allied fighters "soon" because "all requests have been answered with a no" initially but later they have ended up being satisfied.

The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, was also open to sending fighters and pointed out that in any case the matter "is not taboo."

But it was the governments of the Baltic states and Poland that most clearly supported Kyiv's request. "Ukraine needs fighter planes, missiles, tanks... We have to act," Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said at a press conference with his colleagues from neighboring nations in Riga, Latvia.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also did not rule out a possible supply of fighters to Ukraine, although he assured that any such decision would be made "in complete coordination" with NATO countries. He was weighing the conflict Warsaw had in March with the US, shortly after the start of the war, when Morawiecki offered to transfer a few Soviet-made Polish Mig-29s to Ukraine. Washington said at first that the offer had a "green light." But later, when Warsaw elaborated the offer and proposed to make the transfer through the US air base of Ramstein, in Germany, and in exchange for the US sending F-16s, the White House and the Pentagon rejected it outright; with a "no" as resounding as Biden's on Monday.

The allies will have to come clean, once again.