BBC: British Foreign Secretary wants Ukraine to get fighter jets

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will make these statements during a speech in the English capital today, according to the BBC. The West must be prepared by Truss for a protracted war and therefore increase support for Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has requested heavy equipment, combat aircraft and a no-fly zone. NATO only gave the country less heavy weapons for fear that the conflict would spread beyond Ukraine’s borders.

‘Feel deep in stock’

Truss now deviates from that position with her speech, according to the BBC. She fears ‘terrible consequences’ if Putin is successful in Ukraine. The British broadcaster writes that the foreign minister proposes to donate “heavy weapons, tanks and aircraft” to Ukraine. “We need to dig deep into our inventories and ramp up production,” Truss said.

The speech comes at a crucial time. A few days ago, Poland announced to give tanks to Ukraine. Germany supplies tanks with heavy guns and the Netherlands also promised this form of aid yesterday, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said:

Australia announced last night that Ukraine will get six M777 howitzers. According to the Australians, the Ukrainian army is making ‘significant progress’ with this. But no country has yet promised Ukraine warplanes. Poland previously proposed on its own to supply aircraft to Ukraine, but the United States refused to cooperate.

Spare parts, but no planes yet

“If fighter jets have to fly into airspace where Russia and Ukraine are fighting, it poses a danger to all NATO countries,” Defense spokesman John Kirby said early last month.

Last week, the Pentagon reported that Ukraine was getting spare parts for fighter jets. It was not clear who supplied it or what parts it involved. The Americans only reported that “Ukraine now has more fighter jets than a few weeks ago.”

Risk of escalation

Whether Truss’s appeal will ensure that Western countries supply Ukraine with fighter jets is open to question. BBC correspondent James Landale expects that ‘the scale of Western support for Ukraine must first become so large that airplanes are a natural next step’. Also, ‘the need to help Kiev’ must outweigh the risk of the conflict with Moscow escalating.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to Russian state media yesterday about “a real danger of World War III” because of Western actions.