“I have nothing to report,” – this is how the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, answered the question of whether the planes would be provided to Kiev at the end of the next “Ramstein” – a meeting of defense ministers of more than 50 partner countries of Ukraine.
The ninth meeting of the Contact Group, at which countries helping Kyiv repel Russian aggression coordinate joint efforts to support the Ukrainian army, was held in Brussels, at NATO headquarters.
Last week, during a surprise visit to Britain, Volodymyr Zelensky urged allies to quickly provide Ukraine with “wings of freedom” – combat aircraft. The urgent need for military aviation was also announced before the meeting in Brussels by the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov.
Over the past month, representatives of the Ukrainian authorities assured that the issue of supplying Ukraine with aircraft – mainly American F-16 fighters – was already close to being resolved.
Some European countries, primarily in Eastern Europe, expressed their readiness to transfer fighter jets from their own stocks to Kyiv, but emphasized that they could not make such a decision unilaterally.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the supply of fighters would be discussed, but later. Now, according to him, this issue is not in the center of attention of Ukraine’s partners.
The Rammstein meeting came amid press reports citing Western intelligence that Russia had amassed hundreds of its combat aircraft and helicopters near the border with Ukraine, supposedly in preparation for a massive new offensive.
Although the head of the Pentagon said that the United States does not see such a concentration of Russian air forces near the Ukrainian border, he acknowledged that Russia still has a significant amount of aircraft in reserve, and called for everything possible to provide Ukraine with the maximum capacity for air defense.
The meeting of the Contact Group of Ukraine’s partner countries will continue on Wednesday. According to the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, on the second day, the Ramstein participants will discuss the state of affairs with the supply of tanks.
source: bbc
