Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who visited Kyiv on Wednesday, did not rule out sending fighter jets to Ukraine, but warned that such an approach should be carried out through a coordinated international coalition, CNN reports, News.ro reports.

• “We are not ruling anything out at the moment,” Kristersson said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. “But, at the same time, we recognize the fact that we need an international coalition to take other steps,” added the prime minister of Sweden, which presides over the EU Council.

Ulf Kristersson added that he fully understands Ukraine’s reasoning regarding the demand for allies “not to delay too much” and to provide it with defense assistance. But at the same time, he drew attention to the “very special situation” in which his country found itself, which is barely at the stage of being a candidate for joining NATO together with Finland.

• “We have very obvious reasons to be very careful with our own defense at the moment,” Kristersson noted.

• “We will do everything in our power to support Ukraine, and we will do it in a way that does not risk or compromise Sweden’s ability to defend itself – because this is a core competence that a candidate country for NATO should support.” – said the prime minister of Sweden. outside.

Kristersson also confirmed “Sweden’s strong support for Ukraine’s integration into the EU”, adding that Ukrainians are Europeans, belong to Europe and belong to the EU

Zelensky thanked Sweden for its support and defense package.

• “Just recently, Sweden allocated almost a billion dollars in defense aid to Ukraine. Thank you for your support,” Zelenskyy said during a press conference. “Our soldiers are especially looking forward to the recently approved aid package – the brilliant Swedish ARCHER system, one of the best artillery systems in the world,” said the Ukrainian president.

• “Today, Sweden is among the top five suppliers of the necessary equipment for restoring our power grid after the Russian strikes. This is a clear indication of how much Sweden values ​​people and humanity,” Zelenskyy added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on February 9 that several European Union leaders had said at a summit he attended last Thursday that they were ready to provide planes to Kyiv to help it fight the Russian invasion.

• “Europe will be with us until we win. We heard this from a number of European leaders… about the readiness to provide us with the necessary weapons and support, including aviation,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference.

Delivery of aircraft is not urgent now

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the issue of delivering fighter jets to Ukraine is not the most urgent issue at the moment, although it is a discussion that is being conducted between the allies.

• “The urgent need now is to deliver what has already been promised, to deliver armored vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, German Marder vehicles, American Bradley vehicles and of course also battle tanks, Leopard and other battle tanks that have been promised. And we see that the allies are increasing supplies. We need training, we need equipment, we need ammunition, and that’s what the allies are providing, and that will be the main issue at today’s NATO meeting,” he said.

While NATO allies “expect some kind of negotiation” with Russia over its war in Ukraine, in the meantime they are “very focused on getting everything that the Ukrainian military needs,” Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to the military alliance, told CNN.

As for fighter jets, despite repeated requests from Ukraine, the Biden administration categorically refused to consider the idea of ​​sending F-16 fighter jets.

“The United States currently has no plans to send F-16s or other fighter jets,” Smith reiterated. “We were also clear that each country has to decide for itself what contribution it wants to make.”

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Great Britain is considering which planes it could send to Ukraine if it decides to arm Kyiv with fighter jets

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