As soon as tank deliveries to Ukraine are certain, Kyiv demands fighter jets for the war against Russia.
Chancellor Scholz, however, puts a stop to this.
Berlin/Kyiv – Well, then: The federal government has decided to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks to the Ukraine.
While Olaf Scholz (SPD) had to take a lot of criticism due to his hesitant behavior, the chancellor seems to have pulled off a diplomatic coup at the same time: the USA should also send their Abrams tanks - a German request that, according to media reports, had previously been rejected by Washington is.
In Kiev's eyes, however, the supposed concession on the Abrams question, the German export license for third countries and the announced delivery of 14 Leopard tanks are not yet done.
If Andriy Melnyk, the Ukrainian deputy foreign minister and former ambassador to Germany, has his way, the West has to do even more.
Even if Melnyk was grateful for the deliveries on Twitter, a “fighter jet coalition” was needed now.
"With F-16 and F-35, Eurofighter and Tornado, Rafale and Gripen and everything that can be supplied to save Ukraine," Melnyk wrote.
But the Chancellor quickly put a stop to these ideas on Wednesday (January 25): "I made it clear very early on that it's not about combat aircraft and I'm doing that here too," said Scholz in the Bundestag.
When no-fly zones were discussed shortly after the start of the war, he and US President Joe Biden said: “We will not do that.
And nothing has changed in this attitude and nothing will change.” Germany is acting on the principle of making what is necessary possible and at the same time avoiding an escalation into a conflict between NATO and Russia.
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A US F-35 fighter jet is refueled by an Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker.
(archive photo)
©US Air Force/Imago
Berlin excludes fighter jet deliveries: Ukraine hopes for turnaround
FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann sees it similarly to the Chancellor.
"I don't see that with the planes, to say it directly," said the otherwise vehement supporter of arms deliveries to Ukraine on Wednesday on
RTL / ntv
- "early start".
The handover of aircraft is associated with completely different challenges and risks than the delivery of tanks, she made clear.
“If a tank is not being operated properly under certain circumstances, then it will stop.
It falls down on an airplane.
And getting air superiority is unlikely.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed Wednesday morning that unnamed "European colleagues" were working on the issue of supplying US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
"Now F-16?
Yes, I'll take care of that," he wrote on Facebook of a conversation with an unnamed person.
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
In mid-January, in addition to Ukrainian officials, former NATO commander-in-chief James Stavridis, among others, suggested supplying combat aircraft in addition to tanks.
On the one hand he thinks of MiG-29 fighter jets of Soviet design from Poland, which the Ukrainian soldiers know how to operate and which could be delivered directly.
They could then be supported by F-16s from the United States.
(nak/dpa)
Rubric list image: © US Air Force/Imago