UK Not Ruling Out Delivery of Military Aircraft to Ukraine

By Staff, Agencies

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said London has yet to make a "solid decision" not to supply Kiev with fighter jets and expressed his opinion that it is not the right approach "for now."

"I’ve been involved with this for a pretty long time. And I’ve learned two things: never rule anything in and never rule anything out... For now, I don’t think that’s the right approach … What’s going to move on this conflict this year is going to be the ability for Ukrainians to deploy western armor against Russia," Wallace reportedly said when asked about possible delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine by London.

Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman ruled out the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine, saying it would not be "practical" as "UK’s Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets are extremely sophisticated and take months to learn how to fly."

Last week, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called on NATO countries to unlock the supply of long-range missiles and military aircraft to Kiev after Western countries announced their intention to supply Ukraine with battle tanks.

A group of US military officials is quietly lobbying to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, which is gathering momentum in the US War Department as Kiev braces for a planned offensive this spring, a US media outlet reported earlier in the month, citing sources. On Monday, US President Joe Biden said "no" when asked whether the Washington was considering sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.