LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Netherlands Premier Mark Rutte have agreed to build a “world coalition” to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, an essential item of military equipment Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has long sought from his Western partners to help his country fight against Russia.
According to AL Jazeera, a spokesman for Sunak’s Downing Street office said that “Sunak and Rutte agreed they would work to build (a) global coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, helping with everything from training to procuring F-16 jets.”
The spokesman said, “The UK PM reiterated his belief that Ukraine’s rightful place is in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the leaders agreed on the significance of providing long-term security assistance to Ukraine to guarantee they can deter against future attacks.”
Rutte said that he and Sunak had spoken about problems and “we are working on together and, of course, about our ongoing joint help for Ukraine in the face of the terrible Russian forces aggression.” The Dutch prime minister didn’t mention the provision of fighter jets and training to Ukrainian forces.
The United Kingdom remains one of the Netherlands’ key partners. In Reykjavík I spoke to Prime Minister @RishiSunak about the issues we’re working on together and, of course, about our ongoing joint support for Ukraine in the face of the terrible Russian aggression. pic.twitter.com/M8ItmkElWh
— Mark Rutte (@MinPres) May 16, 2023
NATO members in Europe have kept open the possibility of sending their F-16s to Ukraine, though US President Joe Biden has made it clear that the United States wouldn’t do so.
Air defence experts say that US-built F-16 fighter would offer Ukraine an edge over the Russian air force, but only if combined with powerful missiles and targeting information, which the West would have to provide, which also risks drawing Ukraine’s Western allies more actively into the war.
