One of the first shortcomings of governments European Union stacked up Ukraine behind invasion of Russia The shipment took place a little over a year ago. ammunition and weapons. After months of bickering, the Twenty-Seven agreed to send battle tanks. German tanks Leopard2 and to train the soldiers under his command and finally, it seems, time to send warplanes of the government Volodymyr Zelensky complaining for months. Several Member States have committed to start training pilots in the use of F-16 fighter aircraft. “The training of pilots has begun and hopefully soon we will be able to supply Ukraine with such weapons,” said the EU’s high representative for foreign policy. Josep BorrellWithin the framework of the council of foreign ministers held in Brussels.
The head of European diplomacy described it as “good” that the G7 countries decided to lay the groundwork to “help Ukraine” at this weekend’s meeting in Hiroshima (Japan). warplanes you need” Although the issue was not discussed at the EU foreign ministers meeting. “There was no particular discussion about warriors, but it’s not about weapons either. There was a discussion focused more on sanctions, the fight against impunity, progress in court where (Russia) should try for their crimes, and what came out was a call for Russia to procure the ammunition it needs. After the meeting, the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, made the statement “the defense of Ukraine”.
Sending fighters is an old request from Kiev, and few countries have so far agreed to avoid escalating tensions with Moscow. Yet, a few weeks ago, countries like Poland and Slovakia were the first to provide such vehicles, despite sending their alleged Soviet-made MiG 29 fighter jets, which are far less modern than the F16s claimed by Kiev. security in your sky. In a few months, the situation seems to have turned 180 degrees.
“No one is saying it’s impossible. If we compare it to the situation three months ago, when we are still trying to buy tanks, today everyone is talking about a coalition of fighters, which is a very promising sign. We understand that our air defense will not be complete without F-16 fighter jets,” he said. sigh He estimates between 40 and 50 units he wants to get from an aircraft 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 Zelenski’s trip to several countries, US President Joe Biden announced that his country, which operates one of the most important fleets, will help train Ukrainian pilots to operate this type of aircraft. . gadgets. This is a decision that many NATO countries support as their leaders. England, Netherlands, Belgium and France. “France, together with its other European partners and other countries, is keen to participate in the training of Ukrainian pilots,” the minister said on Monday. Catherine Colonna. But implementation of the resolution will “take several months”, which he advocates for step-by-step progress. “At the moment, Ukraine’s needs are mainly ammunition, armored vehicles, advanced armored vehicles, tanks, and also maintenance (services),” he recalled.
The Dutch minister also made a cautious statement, Wopke Hoekstra. “Our decision now is to make sure we train (Ukrainian) pilots so that if we decide to send fighter jets (to Ukraine), they will be ready. But this is a separate decision, which we will not discuss today,” he said. He added, “There is no taboo for the Netherlands (when it comes to supplying F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine)”, focusing on training and not giving details about the possible shipment. “Our intention is to do this as soon as possible, but I won’t mention a few days, weeks or months because I don’t think it’s helpful,” he added. countries like GermanyThose without F-16s have already refused to join the coalition and Portugal He’s open to training pilots, though he doesn’t plan to send fighters.
In any case, the situation in Ukraine returned to the focus of much of the Twenty-Seven meeting, which still had not closed a deal or the eleventh sanctions package, and focused on avoiding third-party sanctions. What permanent ambassadors will continue negotiations on Wednesday on a new tranche of 500m euros European Peace Support Fund Hungary will continue to be blocked as long as Kiev keeps the country’s largest country, the OTP, on its list of international sponsors of the war.