Portugal unable to supply fighter jets to Ukraine due to NATO commitments, says Portuguese PM
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa (Photo:REUTERS/Yves Herman)
Portugal has no red lines in providing Ukraine with fighter jets, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa has said, according to the European Council on Feb. 9.
However, Portugal’s existing NATO commitments means that all of its 27 F-16 AM fighter jets are currently spoken for, and cannot be transferred.
"That’s an area where we simply don’t have the possibility (of giving to Ukraine), given that the means we have are all allocated to missions that we cannot do without," he said.
On Jan. 30, U.S. President Joe Biden said that he won't provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.
Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that every weapon sent to Ukraine first passed through a refusal stage.
Poland's Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said he is open to supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets if the decision were taken together with other NATO members.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister has said that some partner nations are already working on "the issue of fighter jets for Ukraine".
Back on Jan. 20, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra stated that his country may consider providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, if asked.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
