January 26, 2023

Edited by| TONY WILD

KYIV

      Ukraine works t maintain and increase its army with different kinds of weapons asked from NATO, EU & USA.

A number of Western military and diplomatic officials confirmed that the internal controversy over the supply of combat fighters to Ukraine has already been triggered by the push of Ukrainian officials supported by the Baltic states.

"The next natural step would be to support Ukraine with fighters," said a diplomat from a northern European country.

The issue of supporting Ukraine with warplanes and fighters is likely to cause much more controversy than the one raised about supplying Kyiv with tanks because the issue is about declaring direct war on Russia. In Europe, many officials and diplomats said that their governments no longer consider this idea unlikely, but fears of escalation remain high.

The European diplomat added that Washington had told Kyiv that supplying it with warplanes was "prohibited at the moment, there is a red line". "Last summer, the supply of multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine was within the red lines, but the line has already moved, "he added.

The same line has moved in relation to tanks," he said.

A second senior envoy from a European power drew attention to the great speed with which the process of supplying Western weapons to Ukraine is being carried out and said:

"it is unthinkable to involve our fighters in the war completely on the side of Ukraine today, but we may have these discussions in two or three weeks".

In this context, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra told his country's parliament last week that his government would consider the possibility of supplying F-16 fighter jets, if Kyiv requests it," he said.
"We are open, there are no taboos," he continued.

 

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The Dutch Foreign Minister's remarks followed statements made last month by Slovak Foreign Minister Rastislav Kair, who told Ukraine's Interfax news agency that his government was "ready" to deliver Soviet-era MiG-29 fighters to Kyiv and that negotiations are underway with NATO partners and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on how to do this.

However, the active leaders of Western countries are less enthusiastic than their Baltic counterparts. On Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ruled out the delivery of fighter jets to Kyiv, citing the need to prevent further military escalation.

"We are not going to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine. This was clarified earlier, including by the US president," he said.

Some European officials believe that the Rammstein meeting next month will be more focused on drafting an emergency plan, in case the realities of war force the use of fighter jets at some point, rather than concluding a deal on their deliveries to Ukraine in the near term.

Ukraine's European allies expect a conflict that could last another three to five years or more. The West is also concerned about the maximum tolerance of Russia for the assistance provided to Ukraine by the West without provoking an aggressive reaction from Moscow.

"Many Western countries believe that if we wanted to provide Ukraine with all the equipment that they ordered from us at the initial stage of the war, there would be a strong Russian reaction, including resorting to nuclear energy," recalls a European diplomat.