Ukraine not getting jet fighters ‘under any circumstances’ in coming weeks – Macron
Emmanuel Macron (Photo:Daniel Cole/Pool via REUTERS)
French President Emmanuel Macron has said that fighter jets will not be supplied to Ukraine “under any circumstances … in the coming weeks,” France24 TV channel reported on Feb. 9.
Macron said priority should be given to “more useful” and “faster” types of weapons, in the later case meaning ones that could quickly be brought into battle by Ukraine.
Despite Ukraine having already requested fighter aircraft several times over the past few months, Macron said that in his opinion the supply of combat aircraft “today does not meet (Ukraine’s) needs.”
However, French leader also said that he does not “exclude absolutely anything.”
Among the “more useful” and “faster” weapons, Macron named French Caesar self-propelled howitzers and the MAMBA medium-range air defense system.
The day before, Macron did not rule out the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine, stressing that this was not prohibited in any way.
Earlier, U.S. news website Politico reported that European countries are discussing the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine following the decision to hand over tanks, but some NATO countries again fear that this might lead to “an escalation.”
Meanwhile, as the Netherlands announced its readiness to provide its F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Russia launched another unprovoked missile attack on Ukraine on Feb. 10.
On the same day as the previous mass Russian missile attack, on Jan. 26, Deputy White House National Security Adviser John Feiner said that the United States was ready to tentatively discuss with Kyiv and its allies the idea of supplying fighter jets to Ukraine.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, when asked about the possibility of Ukraine getting supplies of jet fighters, said that the United States was not going to remove anything from the agenda.
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