The US does not rule out the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine. The statement was made by US President Biden’s deputy national security adviser, Jon Finer, on Thursday (local time) on US television channel MSNBC. When asked if the US is considering supplying fighter jets, Finer said he hasn’t ruled out any particular weapons systems. Support will be tailored to Ukraine’s needs. Jet delivery is also available to Paris.
“We will discuss this very carefully,” Finer said, referring to the Ukraine probe. Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk had previously called for modern fighter jets to defend against the Russian war of aggression. Allies must form a strong fighter coalition, with American F-16 and F-35 fighters, Eurofighters and Tornados, French Rafales and Swedish Gripen fighters.
According to media reports, France is also not ruling out delivering fighter jets to Kyiv. “We have to look at requests on a case-by-case basis and leave all doors open,” Thomas Gassilloud, chairman of the French National Assembly’s Defense Committee, said in London on Thursday, according to British media reports.
“We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks because things are moving fast,” Gassilloud said after talks with British counterpart Tobias Ellwood and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. According to British media reports, Gassilloud stated that the delivery of fighter jets must not endanger French and European security and that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine must not escalate.
According to media reports that agreed with the Dutch parliament, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said last week that the matter was open and that there were no taboos. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has ruled out delivering fighter jets after the promise of Leopard 2 main battle tanks on Wednesday.