Downing Street has confirmed that they will not send fighter jets to Ukraine and the US has also said at this time they will not send F-16 warplanes.
Following the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning Rishi Sunak said it is “not practical” to send the UK’s Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets.
The British Prime Minister said that the UK will still “accelerate” military support to Kyiv and will Downing Street will “listen carefully” to requests.
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Sunak’s official spokesman said, “The UK’s Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets are extremely sophisticated and take months to learn how to fly, given that we believe it is not practical to send those jets into Ukraine.
“We will continue to provide and accelerate our military support to Ukraine and listen carefully to their requests.
“It is the length of time it takes to learn how to use what are very complex pieces of equipment that is the limiting factor in this case, but we will explore what more we can do to support Ukraine.”
The spokesman added, “He said since becoming Prime Minister he had reviewed the UK’s approach and concluded that a prolonged stalemate in the conflict would only benefit Russia.
“Which was why he had decided there was an opportunity to accelerate UK support working closely with our allies to give Ukraine the best chance of success and make the most of the window of opportunity where Russian forces were on the back foot.
“He said the new strategy would also see greater diplomatic efforts and planning work with the Ukrainian on how to rebuild once the conflict had ended.”
The US President Joe Biden has said he will not provide F-16 multirole fighter jets to Ukraine as there are concerns this will accelerate the conflict between Russia and NATO.
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