Delivering F16 fighter jets to Ukraine ‘up to the White House’: UK defence minister

The defence ministers of the UK and Germany said on Wednesday (May 17) that any decision to send fighter jets to Ukraine rests with the White House. This stand has been despite a jet "coalition" announced by Britain and the Netherlands this week.

"This is up to the White House to decide whether it wants to release that technology," British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said after talks with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius in Berlin.

"It depends on the White House... to decide whether the F16 fighter planes can be delivered," said Pistorius.

On the first day of a Council of Europe summit in Iceland this week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte had agreed on the fighter jet club.

They said they would build an "international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F16 jets".

UK does not have F16s

British Defence Minister Wallace pointed out that the UK did not have F16 jets and also underlined that there were no plans to send aircraft from its Typhoon fleet.

"But we can help the pipeline... we can enable other people who wish to," he said.

Pistorius said that Germany cannot "play an active role" in such an alliance "because we don't have the training capacity, the skills, or the aircraft".

Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor also said in Iceland that he did not see any direct 'requirements' for Germany over fighter jets.

Zelensky again presses for fighter jets

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pressing for fighter jets to help Ukraine repel Russia's invasion and repeated the request on a recent tour of the European capitals.

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Zelensky said in London that he was "very positive" about creating a "jets coalition" in the war against Russia.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year. After initial territorial gains, Russian troops were forced to retreat from large swathes of Ukrainian land in the face of counterattack from Ukraine. Russia then opted to attack targets in Ukraine using missiles. The missile attacks have and continue to batter Ukraine. The energy grid of the country has been extensively damaged due to the missile attacks.

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Along with efforts of its military, the Ukrainian pushback against the Russian war machine has largely been attributed to Western help. Western countries, the European Union and the UK have poured in huge humanitarian and military help. Millions and millions of dollars have been provided to Ukraine. The military help includes ammunitions, missile launchers, tanks, rocket systems and more.

Zelensky has been pushing for fighther jets for air superiority on the battlefield. But this is something Western countries have been dragging their foot about.

(With inputs from agencies)

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