President Joe Biden said on Monday that the United States would not send F-16 fighter jets to Kiev, commenting on media reports that the Pentagon was looking into that. He had previously said that sending tanks to Ukraine would mean World War Three, but he changed his mind last week.
“No,” Biden told reporters outside the White House, when asked about the F-16s.
Based on politichowever, some US military officials are “Silently Pushing the Pentagon to Approve” send the jets to Kiev. The outlet cites a Ministry of Defense official and “two other people join” in discussions.
“I don’t think we object,” The unnamed official told the outlet, but added that no final decision had been made. When asked about the issue, the White House referred to deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, who told MSNBC last week that the US would discuss fighter jets. “very careful” and that Washington and its allies “does not exclude or exclude any particular system.”
Biden addressed the question while talking about a possible trip to Poland in the near future. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said before on the date that Warsaw will deliver F-16s to Kiev, but only “fully coordinated” with NATO, while France refuse to exclude send some of their own jet as well.
Poland has led accusations of sending Western-made tanks to Kiev, which Biden has previously described as overly provocative.
“The idea that we’re going to send attack equipment and send planes, tanks, and trains with American pilots and American crews – understand, don’t fool yourself, even if you no matter what, it’s called World War III,” he told House Democrats gathered in Philadelphia in March 2022.
However, last week, Mr announced delivery of 31 Abrams tanks to the government in Kiev – just days after Politico report This is not going to happen, citing well-informed Pentagon sources. Information leaked Reuters and The Wall Street Journal — that Abrams would be promised to clear the way for Germany to approve Leopard 2 deliveries — turned out to be true.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West about supplying arms to Ukraine, saying it would only prolong the conflict. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said last week that continued deliveries were further proof that Western countries were directly involved in hostilities.
