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KYIV, Ukraine , Jan 01 (AP) \u2014 Ukraine won support Tuesday from Baltic nations and Poland in its quest to obtain Western fighter jets, but there were no signs that larger nations like the U.S. and Britain have changed their stance of refusing to provide the warplanes to Kyiv after almost a year of battling Russia\u2019s invading forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cUkraine needs fighter jets … missiles, tanks. We need to act,\u201d Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said in the Latvian capital of Riga at a news conference with his Baltic and Polish colleagues. Those countries, which lie on NATO\u2019s eastern flank, feel especially threatened by Russia and have been the leading advocates for providing military aid.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov held talks with his French counterpart, saying they did not discuss specific fighter jets but did talk about aviation \u201cplatforms\u201d to help Ukraine\u2019s ground-to-air defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how quick it will be, this response from Western allies\u201d to Kyiv\u2019s requests for fighter jets, Reznikov said. \u201cI\u2019m optimistic and I think it will be as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also listed weapons Ukraine has sought in the past year, starting with Stingers, and said the first response was always, \u201cImpossible.\u201d Eventually though, he said, \u201cit became possible.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, speaking alongside Reznikov, said there are \u201cno taboos\u201d on sending fighter jets. He also confirmed that France is sending 12 more Caesar cannons in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that France doesn\u2019t exclude sending fighter jets to Ukraine, but he laid out multiple conditions before such a step is taken, including not leading to an escalation of tensions or using the aircraft \u201cto touch Russian soil,\u201d and not resulting in weakening \u201cthe capacities of the French army.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reznikov\u2019s trip came a week after Western nations pledged to send Kyiv sophisticated modern tanks.<\/p>\n
Several Western leaders have expressed concern that providing warplanes could escalate the nearly year-long conflict and draw them deeper into the war. Such fighter jets would offer Ukraine a major boost, but countering Russia\u2019s massive air force would still be a major challenge.<\/p>\n
The U.K. government, among Kyiv\u2019s staunchest diplomatic supporters and military suppliers, said that sending its fighter jets is \u201cnot practical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak\u2019s spokesman, Max Blain, said \u201cthe U.K.\u2019s Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets are extremely sophisticated and take months to learn how to fly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that, we believe it is not practical to send those jets into Ukraine,\u201d he said Tuesday, though he didn\u2019t say that the U.K. was opposed to other countries sending planes.<\/p>\n
Asked Monday if his administration was considering sending Ukraine F-16 fighter jets, U.S. President Joe Biden responded, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyiv officials have repeatedly urged allies to send jets, saying they are essential to challenge Russia\u2019s air superiority and to ensure the success of future counteroffensives that could be spearheaded by the Western battle tanks.<\/p>\n
The West also has ruled out providing Kyiv with long-range missiles able to hit Russian territory, citing potential escalation.<\/p>\n
After months of haggling, Ukrainian authorities last week persuaded Western allies to send the tanks. That decision came despite the hesitation and caution of some NATO members, including the United States and Germany.<\/p>\n
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appeared to balk at the prospect of providing fighter jets, suggesting Sunday that the reason for the entire discussion might be down to \u201cdomestic political motives\u201d in some countries.<\/p>\n
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday there are \u201cno taboos\u201d in efforts to help Ukraine. But he added that sending jets \u201cwould be a very big next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked Tuesday about the supplies of Western weapons to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated the Kremlin\u2019s view that \u201cNATO long has been directly involved into a hybrid war against Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added after the talks in Moscow with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry that the Russian military will \u201ctake all the necessary measures to derail the fulfillment of Western plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Shoukry conveyed a message from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken about Ukraine, which repeated calls from Washington for Russia to withdraw.<\/p>\n
Lavrov said \u201cRussia is ready to hear any serious \u2014 I want to underline this word \u2014 proposal aimed at comprehensive settlement of the current situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Ukraine and Russia are believed to be building up their arsenals for an expected offensive in the coming months. The war has been largely deadlocked on the battlefield during the winter.<\/p>\n
Asked about Lithuania\u2019s call for fighter jets and long-range missiles for Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the comments \u201creflected an aggressive approach taken by the Baltic nations and Poland, who are ready to do everything to provoke further escalation without thinking about consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very sad that the leaders of big European countries that drive the European agenda don\u2019t fulfill a balancing role to offset such extremist inclinations,\u201d Peskov told reporters.<\/p>\n
NATO-member Croatia\u2019s president, meanwhile, criticized Western nations for supplying Ukraine with heavy tanks and other weapons. President Zoran Milanovic argued that those arms deliveries will only prolong the war.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the conflict, discussions focused on the possibility of providing Kyiv with Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets that Ukrainian pilots are familiar with. In March, the Pentagon rejected Poland\u2019s proposal to transfer its MiG-29s to Kyiv through a U.S. base in Germany, citing a high risk of triggering a Russia-NATO escalation.<\/p>\n
Ukraine inherited a significant fleet of Soviet-made warplanes, including Su-27 and MiG-29 fighter jets and Su-25 ground attack aircraft.<\/p>\n
Switching to Western aircraft would require Ukrainian crews to undergo long training and would also raise logistical challenges linked to their maintenance and repair.<\/p>\n
Russia methodically targeted Ukrainian air bases and air defense batteries in the opening stage of the conflict, but Ukraine has been smart about relocating its warplanes and concealing air defense assets, resulting in Russia\u2019s failure to gain full control of the skies.<\/p>\n
After suffering heavy losses early during the conflict, the Russian air force has avoided venturing deep into Ukraine\u2019s airspace and mostly focused on close support missions along the frontline.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainian air force faced similar challenges, trying to save its remaining warplanes from being hit by Russian fighter jets and air defense systems.<\/p>\n
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KYIV, Ukraine , Jan 01 (AP) \u2014 Ukraine won support Tuesday from Baltic nations and Poland in its quest to obtain Western fighter jets, but there were no signs that larger nations like the U.S. and Britain have changed their stance of refusing to provide the warplanes to Kyiv after almost a year of battling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}