First tanks, then fighter jets: At the EU summit, Selenskyj insisted on weapons for the Ukraine war.
There is disagreement in NATO.
But the training went quickly.
Brussels – The hunger for more weapons has not yet been satisfied: After the promise of modern battle tanks, the debate about the delivery of fighter jets for Ukraine in the war of aggression against Russia is gaining momentum.
At the EU summit in Brussels, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted on the transfer of Western aircraft.
But there are divisions within the western allies.
While Great Britain wants to comply with the wish, the federal government continues to oppose it.
But how long?
Because the argument that training on the NATO fighter jets takes too long may no longer be valid.
How long does the training on an F-16 jet take? The pilot wants to learn this in three months during the Ukraine war
The Ukrainian fighter pilot Wadym Vorochylow estimated the learning time on a NATO jet at just a few weeks.
With his many years of experience flying a MiG-29, it would only take "up to three months to learn all the combat tasks," he told the British
Guardian
.
If the engineers for the repair of an F-16 jet were trained at the same time, something could be done to counteract the spring offensive launched by Russia in the Ukraine war.
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How fast can you learn to fly an F-16?
According to a Ukrainian pilot, the training lasts three months.
© Boris Roessler/dpa
The fighter pilot thus fueled the dispute over western support in the Ukraine war.
In the past few weeks, Germany and other NATO countries had agreed to supply tanks.
In addition to state-of-the-art main battle tanks such as Leopard 2, Abrams or Challenger 2, more than 100 old Leopard 1 tanks are also to be brought into the conflict area.
With the delivery of weapons, Russia's troops are to be opposed by a mass.
After the fighting died down a bit in the winter, military experts are now expecting a stronger flare-up.
According to the assessment of the Institute of Sudy of War (ISW), Russia has recently started a spring offensive again.
EU summit in Brussels: Selenskyj demands from NATO fighter jets for the war in Ukraine
Against this background, Ukraine is pushing for even more arms aid.
At the EU summit in Brussels, Volodymyr Zelenskyy explicitly called for the delivery of fighter jets.
Ukraine "really needs ammunition, modern tanks, long-range missiles and fighter jets," he said, adding, "We have to be faster than the attacker."
With the request, he is partially heard.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, emphasized that Ukraine is definitely fighting for Europe's values.
"The future of your nation is in the European Union," she said to Zelenskyy, who was personally present in the Belgian capital.
"Now, as a next step, States must consider rapidly deploying long-range systems and aircraft." These would be needed to protect freedoms that too many had taken for granted.
British fighter jets in the Ukraine war?
Sunak agrees to UK exam
A day earlier, Great Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had signaled to Ukraine that he was willing to supply British fighter jets and agreed to the test.
In doing so, he went on a confrontational course with Germany.
There, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) put the brakes on the call for further arms deliveries.
One should not fall back into a bidding war and, with all the help, one must be careful that the conflict does not escalate any further, he warned.
Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine
Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine
However, it is unclear how long Scholz can block the fighter jet requirement with this attitude.
A training program for Ukrainian soldiers is already underway in Great Britain.
According to Guardian information, this should be geared towards the future.
But for military experts, quick, short-term training on western jets would make perfect sense.
While the German Leopard 2 is considered one of the best tanks in the world, experts say it is less effective on its own.
It played its strength above all in combination with Marder infantry fighting vehicles and air support from fighter jets, it was said unanimously after the federal government had cleared the way for the deliveries.
In some countries like Germany, the position was recently taken that learning the complex processes would be too tedious and would not help Ukraine in the fight against Russia's war of aggression.
Delivery of fighter jets: Russia threatens Germany and Great Britain with escalation in the Ukraine war
In Russia, however, the debate is viewed with suspicion.
According to the Kremlin, a possible delivery of fighter jets to Kyiv will embroil the West more deeply in the Ukraine war.
"We take this as a growing involvement of Britain, Germany and France in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov fumed on Thursday, according to the
Interfax news agency.
Then he added:
"
Gradually the boundary between indirect and direct involvement is disappearing." (
jkf
)
List of rubrics: © Boris Roessler/dpa
