The United States will not provide fighter jets to the Ukrainian armed forces for the time being.

President Joe Biden clarified Monday that he is currently refusing to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighter jets.

When asked by a journalist in the White House, he simply replied "No".

Majid Sattar

Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.

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Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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Biden was responding to a statement from his Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer.

He had previously not categorically ruled out a delivery.

This seemed to follow the line that the American administration, which is by far the largest contributor in terms of military aid, is making decisions about individual weapon systems dependent on the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine.

However, the decision to provide Kyiv with Abrams main battle tanks was of a political nature.

The German government had made this a condition for supplying Leopard 2 tanks.

In Washington, with regard to Biden's statement, it was said that there had not yet been a discussion about the F-16 at the highest level in the government.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte were more nuanced than Biden on Monday night.

In a joint press conference in The Hague, neither of them expressly ruled out the delivery of combat aircraft to Kyiv.

With their answers to a corresponding question, they also made it clear that, unlike Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), they do not consider the debate to be superfluous.

"It's time"

Macron named three criteria.

First, Ukraine itself must consider such supplies useful, also considering the necessary lead time for training and supplies.

Macron said he had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Zelensky for an hour and a half last week.

Secondly, a delivery must not lead to an escalation.

The equipment that would be supplied should "not touch Russian soil" but should serve to protect and defend Ukrainian territory.

Third, France's defense capability must not be weakened.

On the same basis, he recently approved the delivery of French reconnaissance tanks, the President said.

"There are no taboos, but that would be a very big step if it comes to that," said Rutte.

He was referring to a statement made by his foreign minister, Wopke Hoekstra.

Ten days ago, in response to a question in Parliament as to whether the government was prepared to deliver armored personnel carriers and F-16 fighter jets, he replied that there was "no taboo" in principle.

However, Rutte immediately made it clear that there was no such request from Kyiv.

The criteria mentioned by Macron are useful for structuring the debate.

The issue also played a role in Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov's first visit to Paris on Tuesday.

French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu told a joint press conference that fighter jets are "not taboo".

It is more urgent, however, to keep the weapon systems already delivered, such as the Caesar howitzer - Paris wants to send twelve more of these systems to Ukraine - ready for use and to supply sufficient ammunition.

Resnikov said the priority was to increase air defense capabilities: "Combat aircraft are part of it." However, a specific model such as the Mirage aircraft was not required.

Speaking to the newspaper Le Figaro, Reznikov previously explained: “Warplanes were at the top of my list for Santa Claus, but I realized at the start of the conflict that it was premature to prioritize this demand.

So you first had to ask for anti-aircraft systems and tanks.” But now the time is right, and French fighter planes have an excellent reputation.

He would be very happy "if Ukrainian pilots could be trained on French aircraft".

It has been discussed, but no decision has been made, Lecornu confirmed.