After it became known this week that Western countries were supplying modern battle tanks to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the delivery of combat aircraft as well.

American and French representatives replied that they were at least considering sending planes.

"We're going to discuss this very carefully," White House Assistant National Security Advisor Jon Finer said Thursday.

Support will be tailored to what Ukraine needs.

Gerhard Gnauck

Political correspondent for Poland, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania based in Warsaw.

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Michael Wiegel

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Nicholas Zimmerman

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After talks with British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace in London, French National Assembly Defense Committee Chairman Thomas Gassiloud said sending fighter jets to Ukraine was not out of the question.

"We have to decide on a case-by-case basis and leave all doors open," he said, according to British media reports.

France could also contribute older Mirage fighter jets, but that would require more training for Ukrainian pilots.

The representatives of Central and Eastern European countries position themselves more clearly.

"If a delivery of fighter jets is discussed, Poland will vote for it," Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told French broadcaster LCI on Thursday.

The Warsaw newspaper Rzeczpospolita wrote on Friday that unlike the Leopard battle tanks, Germany, which has so far refused to supply combat aircraft, has no de facto right of veto.

For example, Germany does not produce or own any of the F-16 aircraft widely used in NATO.

Going it alone is out of the question

Slovak government officials have repeatedly stated their intention to deliver their eleven Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.

“We are ready to hand over these planes to Ukraine so that it can defend itself and we will not hand them over to anyone.

The issue of handing over these planes is currently being considered by the Slovak government," Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad' said on Wednesday.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis stated: “Ukraine should be equipped with any armament to defeat Russia.

That includes fighter jets, we've always been in favor of that.” The West should share what it has available.

But no Central or Eastern European country wants to go it alone.

"Of course, it can only be a decision by the whole of NATO," Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki said in a statement this week.

The Slovakian Ministry of Defense explained to the FAZ about the aircraft: "We are currently negotiating with our NATO and EU allies about their further use." The NATO decision that the western defense alliance under no circumstances become a war party in Ukraine still applies want.

Questions arise above all with regard to the transfer of the aircraft, since these would have to be flown across the border from a military airport on NATO territory.

The next meeting of NATO defense ministers, where this issue could be discussed, will take place in mid-February.

However, certain protagonists suggested that Ukraine had secretly received fighter jets.

Speculations are growing above all about a Polish MiG-29 spare parts delivery from the spring of last year.

The Slovakian Ministry of Defense states to the FAZ that the eleven Slovakian aircraft of this type are still in Slovakia.

It denies a statement by former Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, who last week suggested that the planes had already been delivered to Ukraine.