Biden rejects plea from Zelensky to send F-16 jets to Ukraine
JOE BIDEN last night ruled out sending advanced F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, rejecting pleas from Volodymyr Zelensky.
The American president was addressing reporters at the White House when he was asked if the US would offer the single-engine fighters to Kyiv. He replied simply. “No.”
The decision dealt a serious blow to Ukraine’s leaders, who had put the jets top of their latest weapons wishlist. Mr Zelensky’s government has repeatedly pressed Washington for the modern aircraft, which would be a significant upgrade from the Ukrainian military’s Soviet-era MIG and Sukhoi fighters.
The US President, however, reiterated his commitment to its ally, saying he planned to visit Poland around the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Emmanuel Macron said last night that France had not ruled out sending fighter jets to Ukraine, setting him on a collision course with Germany.
The French president, after talks with the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, said “nothing is excluded in principle” but only if certain conditions were met.
His comments came just hours after the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, warned against a race to arm Ukraine with high-powered weapons.
Long accused of sitting on the fence over helping Ukraine militarily, Mr Scholz engineered a breakthrough with President Biden to send modern tanks earlier this month.
But yesterday he told German newspaper Tagesspiegel. “I can only advise against entering into a constant competition to outbid each other when it comes to weapons systems.”
Mr Macron yesterday insisted that various “criteria” would have to be met before any French decision to send jets. These included that the “request was formulated” by Ukraine, that the move was “not escalatory”, that it was “not likely to touch Russian soil but was to help the resistance effort” and that “it does not contribute to weakening the capacity of the French army”.
His comments came days after the head of France’s defence committee at the National Assembly, Thomas Gassilloud – also a member of Mr Macron’s Renaissance party – caused a stir when he said “all the doors were open” to discussions over sending planes to Kyiv.
It is understood that if France did send warplanes these would be its older Mirage 2000 models, not the latest Rafale jets.
Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, confirmed earlier this month that the UK would send 14 British Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine and that the Army would teach Ukrainian troops how to operate them. While Britain has no official plans to provide fighter jets, The Daily Telegraph understands the Army is concerned that the RAF and Royal Navy are not pulling their weight in providing support for Ukraine.
Another senior defence source defended the lack of RAF and Navy support because “tanks are how you break through lines”.
While one senior RAF source stressed “never say never” over the possibility of sending jets, they added “it’s not the priority now” but said such a scenario might come when “Russia is kicked out of Ukraine and there is a need for the Ukrainians to conduct an air policing mission to protect their airspace”.
The US plans to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine while Germany, the maker of Leopard 2 battle tanks, said it would send 14 and approve other countries’ requests to do the same.
Moscow has painted the provision of tanks as “direct involvement” in the war, despite Mr Biden’s insistence that the move is “not an offensive threat” to Russia.
Mr Zelensky said: “Russia hopes to drag out the war, to exhaust our forces ... so we have to make time our weapon. We must speed up the events, speed up the supply and the opening of new necessary weaponry options.”