2023-05-22 19:20:38
One of the first shortcomings that the governments of the European Union heaped in Ukraine behind the invasion of russia a little over a year ago was the shipment of ammunition and weapons. After months of tug of war, the Twenty-seven agreed to send battle tanks, including the German tanks Leopard2 and train soldiers in its management and, finally, it seems that the time to send the fighter jets that the Government of Volodymyr Zelensky been complaining for months. Several Member States have committed to start training pilots in the use of F-16 fighters. “The training of pilots has started and I hope that soon we will be able to provide Ukraine with these types of weapons”, the EU’s high representative for foreign policy celebrated. Joseph Borrellwithin the framework of the council of foreign ministers held in Brussels.
The head of European diplomacy has described as “good” the fact that the G7 countries decided during the meeting held this weekend in Hiroshima (Japan) “to prepare the ground to provide Ukraine with the fighter jets you need” although the matter has not been discussed during the meeting of EU foreign ministers. “There hasn’t been a specific debate on fighters but neither on weapons. There has been a debate more focused on sanctions, on the fight against impunity, on advancing in the court that must judge the crimes (of Russia) and what there has been is a call for the need to supply the ammunition that is needed for the defense of Ukraine”, explained the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, after the meeting.
The dispatch of fighters is an old demand from kyiv to which very few countries have so far been receptive to avoid an escalation and increase tensions with Moscow. Even so, countries like Poland and Slovakia a few weeks ago became the first to supply this type of means, although they sent Soviet-made MiG 29 fighters, much less modern than the F16s claimed by Kiev and insufficient, they maintain, to guarantee the safety in your skies. The situation in a few months seems to have given a 180 degree turn.
“Nobody says it’s impossible. If we compare with the situation that was three months ago, when we were still trying to get tanks, today everyone is talking about a coalition of fighters, this is a very promising sign. We understand that our air defense will not be complete without the F-16 fighters,” the adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister warned a few days ago in the Politico newspaper. Yuri Sak He estimates between 40 and 50 the units that he would like to obtain from an airplane model used by more than half a dozen European countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands and Norway.
Commitments in the G7
During the G7 summit, and after a tour by Zelenski to several countries, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced that his country, which operates one of the most important fleets, will help train Ukrainian pilots in handling this type of aircraft. gadgets. This is a decision that several NATO countries also support, as the leaders of United Kingdom, Holland, Belgium and France. “France is willing, with other European partners, and other countries to participate in the training of Ukrainian pilots,” the minister confirmed on Monday. Catherine Colonna. The implementation of the decision, however, “will take several months” for which he has advocated moving forward step by step. “At present, Ukraine’s needs are essentially ammunition, armored vehicles, advanced armored vehicles, tanks, and also maintenance (services),” he recalled.
The Dutch minister has also made a prudent statement, Wopke Hoekstra. “The decision we have made now is to make sure that we train the (Ukrainian) pilots so that if we decide to send fighter jets (to Ukraine), they are ready. But that is a separate decision that we are not going to discuss today, ”he explained about sending fighters. “For the Netherlands there are no taboos (when it comes to supplying F-16 fighters to Ukraine),” he added, without giving details about the possible shipment and focusing on training. “Our intention is to make sure we do it as soon as possible, but I’m not going to mention a number of days or weeks or months, because I don’t think it’s useful,” he added. Countries like Germanywho do not have an F-16, have already ruled out joining the coalition and the same Portugal Although he is not planning to send fighters, he is open to training pilots.
The situation in Ukraine, in any case, has returned to the focus of a large part of the meeting of the Twenty-seven who still have not closed an agreement or on the eleventh package of sanctions, focused on avoiding the evasion of sanctions by third countries and that the permanent ambassadors will continue negotiating on Wednesday, nor on a new tranche of 500 million euros of the European Peace Support Fund that Hungary keeps blocked as long as kyiv keeps the country’s largest country, the OTP, on the list of international sponsors of the war.
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