Berlin said aircraft are “not part” of any defense support provided to Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ruled out sending warplanes to Kiev on Wednesday, marking a second blow in several hours to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request for support from Western nations and alliances.
“We have provided all kinds of defense materials and … have sent weapons that we have told you about but it is also true that we have to consider very carefully what we do concretely, and definitely warplanes are not part of that,” Scholz said at a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Scholz’s decision to reject providing aircraft to Ukraine comes hours after the United States rejected Poland’s offer to provide MiG-29 fighter jets to Kiev via a US airbase in Germany, claiming the proposal raises “serious concerns” for the NATO alliance.
Warsaw had offered on Tuesday to provide Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to restock the Ukrainian air force by delivering them to a US base in Ramstein, Germany before they would be deployed to Ukraine. It came after repeat requests from the Ukrainian president for more support.
The US Pentagon refused this suggestion from Poland, claiming that flying jets from an American-NATO base “into airspace that is contested with Russia over Ukraine raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance.”
In Zelensky’s daily televised address on Wednesday, he reiterated his request for the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, claiming that Western leaders will be responsible for a mass “humanitarian catastrophe” if they refuse to do so.
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