Duda: Poland can't supply Ukraine with F-16s.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Poland was not able to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets but was not against training Ukrainian pilots and sending more MiG-29s, news outlet wPolityce reported[1] on May 17. While speaking to journalists at the Council of Europe summit in Iceland, Duda was asked if Poland would join an international coalition[2] alongside the U.K. and the Netherlands to procure F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine. According to Duda, Poland has a "relatively small number" of F-16s, meaning that supplying Ukraine with such fighter jets is not an option.

However, Poland is ready to "support the process of training Ukrainian pilots," Duda said. "We donated unprecedented amounts of armaments to the EU, we donated more than 300 tanks to Ukraine, we donated almost all our MiG-29s, which Ukraine asked us for from the very beginning of the war," Duda added.   Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the coalition[3] to procure Western fighter jets would be established this year.

Meanwhile, France[4] and the U.K.[5] have already expressed their willingness to train Ukrainian pilots. Ukraine has so far received 14 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets from Poland[6] and 13 from Slovakia[7]. Duda told journalists that Poland was ready to supply more MiG-29s, but some of them were being used for NATO's air policing[8] missions.

Ukraine has shown the most interest in the U.S.-built F-16, which has been in service since the 1970s and operated by over 20 nations. Critics argue that allies' reluctance to supply Western fighter jets and long-range missiles to Ukraine may prolong Russia's war of aggression and result in thousands of deaths.

Editorial: Arming Ukraine won't escalate war. Reluctance to do so will

First it was the tanks, now it's the fighter jets. As Ukraine braces for another possible major Russian offensive in the upcoming weeks, Western leaders are yet again coming up with a variety of excuses why this time, they cannot justify supplying F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to Ukraine.

[9] The Kyiv Independent news desk

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References

  1. ^ reported (wpolityce.pl)
  2. ^ international coalition (kyivindependent.com)
  3. ^ coalition (kyivindependent.com)
  4. ^ France (kyivindependent.com)
  5. ^ the U.K. (kyivindependent.com)
  6. ^ Poland (kyivindependent.com)
  7. ^ Slovakia (kyivindependent.com)
  8. ^ air policing (kyivindependent.com)
  9. ^ Editorial: Arming Ukraine won't escalate war.

    Reluctance to do so willFirst it was the tanks, now it's the fighter jets.

    As Ukraine braces for another possible major Russian offensive in the upcoming weeks, Western leaders are yet again coming up with a variety of excuses why this time, they cannot justify supplying F-16 and F-35 fighter jets to Ukraine. (kyivindependent.com)

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