BERLIN – Poland would be ready to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets if the decision were taken together with Western allies, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said today.
“If this was a decision of the whole of Nato, I would be for sending these fighter jets,” Morawiecki said in an interview with German daily Bild.
“My assessment is based on what Nato countries decide together,” the Polish leader said.
Western allies should coordinate any supply of fighter jets “because this is a very serious war and Poland is not participating in this war, Nato is not participating”, Morawiecki said, adding that the decision needed the “strategic consideration of the whole Nato alliance”.
Western countries only recently approved sending heavy-duty battle tanks to Ukraine, but Kyiv is already requesting the American-made F-16 warplanes to help repel the Russian invasion.
The United States has ruled out any deliveries of F-16s to Ukraine for now, but other partners have shown themselves more open to the idea.
Slovakia has said it would be prepared to send Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets, while Dutch politicians recently floated the idea of sending Ukraine the F-16 jets it wants.
The decision to send Western-made battle tanks came after months of lobbying from Kyiv and weeks of intense discussions among Western partners.
The key moment came in January when, under pressure from allies including Poland, Berlin approved sending German-made Leopard tanks to Kyiv.
Berlin’s Ukraine policy has increased “mistrust” toward Germany, especially from “central and eastern European countries”, Morawiecki said.
“Germany has the potential to provide much more support than it has done so far, it has decision-making power within the European Union, it has money for Ukraine, it has diplomatic power,” he said. – AFP, February 2, 2023
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