OUR French President Emmanuel MacronWhen asked in The Hague today about the possibility of sending fighter jets to Ukraine to help it resist the Russian invasion, he cautiously replied that “in principle, nothing is ruled out.”

He spoke of “criteria” before any decision, such as “formulating” a “request” from Ukraine that it “does not cause escalation” and “is unlikely to affect Russian territory, but will help the resistance effort” and “not weaken the potential of the French army.”

“By definition, nothing is ruled out,” he said, stressing that the Ukrainians “do not make this demand at the moment.”

However, “in the light of these three criteria, we will continue to consider on a case-by-case basis” deliveries of military equipment, he added, laying out the same criteria for a possible delivery of Leclerc tanks.

Decisions are made “according to requests, not rumors,” the French president stressed, adding that Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov is expected to visit Paris tomorrow Tuesday for talks with his French counterpart Sebastian Lecorny.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in turn, stressed that “there is no taboo, but it would be a big step” if the fighters were handed over to Kyiv.

According to him, the Netherlands has also not yet received a request from Kyiv, agreeing with the criteria set by Macron.

After weeks of hesitation, last Wednesday Berlin decided to send 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow other European countries to supply similar tanks to Kyiv.

However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said yesterday Sunday that Berlin would not send fighter jets to Ukraine.

Source: APE/MEB