How this coalition wants kyiv with F-16s

WAR IN UKRAINE – Some European countries want to build a « coalition internationale » to help Ukraine obtain F-16 fighter jets, Downing Street said on Tuesday May 16 after a meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.

Gathered on the occasion of a Council of Europe summit in Iceland, the two men “agreed that they would work together to build an international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities (…), ranging from training to the delivery of F16 aircraft”Downing Street said in a statement.

For what ?

Volodymyr Zelensky has been asking his Western allies for months to provide him with planes that would allow the Ukrainian army to strike Russian troops in depth, without however constituting a miracle solution in the conflict.

What is this ” coalition internationale »

Ben Wallace was questioned about the « coalition internationale » that London has proposed to build to deliver Western technology combat aircraft to Ukraine. He added that this coalition was a “political support”, a “signal to Russia that we have no objection in principle to providing Ukraine with the capabilities it needs”.

Which countries to help Ukraine with the F-16?

While the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have announced this desire to create this entity, other countries have also advanced their pawns.

Germany: “We cannot play an active role in such an alliance, in such a coalition, because we have neither the training capabilities, nor the skills, nor the planes”said Boris Pistorius, German Defense Minister.

“Germany could, however, make military airports available for training on fighter jets F-16carried out by pilots from other countries »for her part, proposed Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, president (FDP) of the defense committee at the Bundestag.

Belgium : without mentioning the coalition in question, Belgium is one of the European countries which wants to train Ukrainian pilots to learn how to handle the F-16, reports the daily The morning. Brussels has however ruled out providing its F-16s, which protect Benelux airspace and participate in the defense of the Baltic States, underlines The world.

Poland : for his part, the Polish President Andrzej Duda, let it be known that his country was not in a position to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. “We don’t have many F-16s. We have forty-eight. It’s not a big number. We need to replenish our stock (…). We will first be able to offer what we have left of the post-Soviet stock, that is to say our MiG-29s that we still have. »

However, he is not against training Ukrainian pilots and sending more MiG-29s to the Ukrainian Air Force, reports Wednesday the polish media in politicsQuoted by The world.

France : Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday May 15 to have “opened the door to form pilots » ukrainian fighter ” right now “the day after a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris.

“I believe that discussions are underway with the Americans”declared the president, considering on the other hand that to evoke a possible future delivery of fighter planes to kyiv “would be a theoretical debate”.

For his part, in the United Kingdom Ben Wallace made a point of specifying that ” We do not have any F-16 and we are not going to deliver Typhoon (planes) but we can obviously contribute training and support, within the limits of the fact that we do not have pilots of F-16 », explained the British Minister Ben Wallace. The United Kingdom has already announced that it intends to train Ukrainian pilots soon.

What about the F-16 delivery?

The British and German Defense Ministers felt that it was up to ” to the White House “ to decide on a possible delivery to kyiv of F-16 combat aircraft.

“To my knowledge, it is up to the White House to decide whether the F-16 fighter jets can be delivered”he also noted Boris Pistorius., arguing that it is not a question “not a question that will be settled in Berlin”.

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