French President Emmanuel Macron said he’s not ruling out sending jet fighters to Ukraine to help them repel Russian invaders, but said Kyiv has yet to formally request them.
During a press conference on Monday at The Hague, Mr. Macron said that, in principle, French defense officials have not explicitly ruled out any weapon system as part of a security assistance package to Ukraine.
The comments came after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz doubled down Sunday on his comments rejecting Ukraine’s appeal for jet fighters from Berlin. President Biden also suggested the U.S. would deny the request to send Kyiv any F-16 jets.
Washington and its allies have been ratcheting up military hardware support for Ukraine but have tried to limit their efforts for fear of provoking a direct conflict with the Kremlin.
Mr. Macron said Monday that France would carefully assess any request according to set criteria. The first would be that it’s useful to the war effort and can be accomplished within the constraints of time and training needed.
“The second is that it is not escalatory, that is to say, the equipment that we deliver is not likely to touch Russian soil but to help in the effort of resistance and protection of the Ukrainian soil,” Mr. Macron said, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.
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The Royal Netherlands Air Force is believed to have about 60 F-16 jets in its arsenal but Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters they have not been in any discussions to send any to Ukraine.
“There are no requests [or] taboos but it would really be a massive step forward if it goes that far,” Mr. Rutte said, according to AFP.
Ukrainian officials have said they received a more positive reply from Poland about the possibility of supplying F-16s. Poland has been a strong backer of Kyiv within NATO, but Polish officials said they would coordinate with the U.S. and other allies before making a decision on the fighter jets.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.