Ukraine is pushing its Western allies to provide it with fighter jets, a week after winning pledges of sophisticated modern tanks to help it beat back Russia's invasion force after almost a year of fighting.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov was due in Paris on Tuesday where discussions about the possible delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine was expected to be on the agenda.After months of haggling, Ukrainian authorities last week persuaded Western allies to send the tanks. That decision came despite the hesitation and caution of some NATO members, including the United States and Germany.
"Given that, we believe it is not practical to send those jets into Ukraine," he said Tuesday, though he didn't say that the U.K. was opposed to other countries sending planes. Asked Tuesday about the supplies of Western weapons to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated the Kremlin's view that "NATO long has been directly involved into a hybrid war against Russia."
Both Ukraine and Russia are believed to be building up their arsenals for an expected offensive in coming months. The war has been largely deadlocked on the battlefield during the winter. French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that France doesn't exclude sending fighter jets to Ukraine, but he laid out multiple conditions before such a significant step is taken.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday there are "no taboos" in efforts to help Ukraine. But he added that sending jets "would be a very big next step."
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