This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
U.S. President Joe Biden on January 30 said the United States will not send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, even as French President Emmanuel Macron said France didn’t rule out sending them if certain conditions were met.
Biden replied “no” when asked by reporters at the White House if he was in favor of sending the jets, which are the latest weapons requested by Ukraine’s leaders after they received promises last week that Germany, the United States, and other Western allies would send heavy tanks.
Macron was asked on January 30 at a joint news conference in The Hague with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte if France was considering sending fighter jets.
“Nothing is excluded,” but conditions would have to be met first, Macron said.
This includes ruling out that fighter jets would be used “to touch Russian soil” and that providing them would not weaken the French military, Macron said.
Ukraine would have to formally request the planes, said Macron, who is scheduled to meet Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov in Paris on January 31.
Rutte said Ukraine hadn’t formally requested F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands, and there currently was “no talk about delivering F-16s to Ukraine. No requests.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra told lawmakers earlier this month that there were “no taboos” about sending the warplanes.
Rutte echoed Hoekstra’s words, but said, “It would be a very big next step.”
Meanwhile in Berlin, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany said Kyiv had not yet asked Germany to supply it with fighter jets but pointed out how important they would be.
Fighter jets are part of Ukraine’s efforts to defend its airspace and defend against the missiles fired at Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, Oleksiy Makeyev told broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
His comments came after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated on January 29 that Germany will not send fighter jets to Ukraine.
Scholz last week agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and to allow other European countries to send theirs after weeks of intense debate and mounting pressure from allies.
“I can only advise against entering into a constant bidding war when it comes to weapons systems,” Scholz said during a news conference in Santiago de Chile, adding that serious debate is necessary and not a “competition to outdo each other.”
But Makeyev continued to add pressure, saying, “Every day that we discuss and debate internally or negotiate the rules of engagement with partners, Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians are dying.”
