UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says that the UK will not be sending fighter jets to Ukraine any time soon, and that the focus will be ensuring that Kyiv can defend itself in the long run.
“I don’t think it’s going to be in the next few months or even years that we are going to necessarily hand over fighter jets,” Wallace told BBC Breakfast, citing practical issues.
“We have to plan not only for the fight at the moment, where we help Ukraine through seeing off Russia’s illegal invasion, but we have to help Ukraine with its long-term resilience.”
He told that the international community provided Ukraine with thousands of surface-to-air missiles, drones, and longer-range missiles, which have the “same effects” as fighter jets.
“The point is right now, how do we help Ukraine help itself and gather enough to make Russia’s advances also impossible?” he says, adding that if the UK was to gift fighter jets, it would also have to provide about 200 UK air force personnel.
Ukraine had earlier said that its priority for Ukraine’s defense are fighter jets and longer-range missiles.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister said that only “psychological barriers” separate Ukraine from receiving jets, and this obstacle will be overcome just as the ones around western tanks once were.
Only “psychological barriers” separate Ukraine from western jets – foreign minister
However, so far, there is no consensus on aircraft deliveries, and allies appear to have prioritized boosting Ukraine’s air defense, a Financial Times report suggests, citing a US official who said that they are less important than ammunition in the long term.
