According to the British government, it sees “potential risks” of an escalation of the Ukraine war due to the delivery of increasingly modern weapons to Kyiv. “We are aware of the potential risks of escalation,” said a spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday.
The day before, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called for the delivery of fighter jets during a visit to London – a demand that he later repeated on visits to Paris and Brussels.
The British government spokesman said London was taking the line of helping Ukraine end the war against the Russian invaders in “the best and quickest way”.
According to Prime Minister Sunak, he spoke to Zelenskyy on Wednesday about the possible delivery of combat aircraft. According to the British government, however, such machines could only be delivered “in the longer term” – i.e. not in the near future.
The UK has two types of fighter jets: the modern model F-35B and the older Eurofighter Typhoon, built jointly with Germany, Italy and Spain.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on a visit to Rome on Thursday that Britain would need approval from other manufacturing countries to ship the Typhoon to Ukraine. Germany is currently refusing to supply fighter jets to Ukraine.
Britain is one of Ukraine’s strongest military supporters. British Challenger 2 main battle tanks are to be delivered to Ukraine in March. Britain is currently training Ukrainian soldiers to operate the tanks. The British government has also announced training for Ukrainian fighter pilots – fueling speculation about the delivery of fighter jets.