Olaf Scholz, the current Chancellor of Germany has ruled out the possibility of sending fighter jets to Ukraine as he believes against a bidding war for weapons. He said this while offering an interview with a German newspaper, Tagesspiegel. This news has come just days after Germany announced sending its Leopard 2 tanks to aid Ukraine in its war against Russia. The talks regarding sending fighter jets to aid Ukraine were started by Ukraine itself as it asked the allied nations to form a "fighter jet coalition." Ukraine is in dire need of heavy artillery support as Russia is still actively targeting the Ukrainian defenses. Because of this, the US has agreed to Ukraine’s request for fighter jets, but the US has said that it would first like to discuss the idea of sending fighter jets to Ukraine carefully on Thursday.
When it came to sending battle tanks, Germany had taken a stance that if the US sends battle tanks to Ukraine, the country will follow the same. Thus, many were wondering about the decision of the US to send fighter jets to Ukraine and how Germany will follow through with this decision. It seems that the German Chancellor has cleared all the doubts and has completely scrapped the possibility of Germany sending fighter jets to Ukraine. He said that the country is in no mood to start a bidding war when it comes to sending weapons to Ukraine. This is kind of opposite to the stance which Germany took while sending tanks to Ukraine. Still, Chancellor Olaf Scholz made it clear that when it comes to tanks, his primary objective was to send the German-manufactured Leopard 2 tanks to the battlefield. However, one has to consider that Germany agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks after months of continuous pressure from allied countries such as the US and the UK and there is still no confirmed timeline for when the tanks will be delivered. The US is the only country so far which has been actively supporting Ukraine against Russia. The UK also has shown significant support for the country.
Ukraine is burning its war resources quickly as Russia is actively targeting the Ukrainian borders. Just a few days back, Russian military forces struck a residential area with missiles, which highlights the stance of Russia in this war. This has increased the strain on Ukraine which has already lost a significant amount of its land to Russia. Thus, Andrii Melnyk, the deputy foreign minister of Ukraine, has asked for US F-16s and F-35s, Eurofighters, Tornados, French Rafales, and Swedish Gripen fighter jets which will allow the Ukrainian forces to storm through Russian borders and acquire a solid position amid the ongoing war. Mykhailo Podolyak, the advisor to Ukrainian President Zelensky, said that the country needs missiles that can answer the missile strikes by Russia. Following this request, President Zelensky said that the country needs ATACMS missiles which are manufactured by the US and have a range of around 185 miles or 297 kilometers. This is mainly due to Russia’s plan of attacking the residential and urban areas in Ukraine, which Russia believes, will push Ukraine towards surrender.
