Germany and UK rule out sending jets to Ukraine

(17 May 2023) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Berlin, Germany - 17 May 2023 1. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius entering news conference hall 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Wallace, British Defence Secretary: “(German Defense Minister) Boris is right, this is up to the White House to decide whether it wants to release that technology (F16).“ 3. Wallace and Pistorius 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Wallace, British Defence Secretary: “If you call it the fighter coalition will be about saying ’if anyone wants to do it, it’s not for us to stand in their way. It’s not our technology. We’re happy to help, but our role could only be limited in so far as training and indeed coordination and indeed logistics.’ And that’s the limit. I think it’s important to signal to international community that we don’t have an objection to people doing that.“ 5. Wallace and Pistorius 6. SOUNDBITE (German) Boris Pistorius, German Defence Minister: “We can’t play an active role because we have neither the training capacity, the capability, nor the aircraft, that’s why we are not having this debate.“ 7. Wallace and Pistorius 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Wallace, British Defence Secretary: “But what’s really important here is to signal to Russia that we as nations have no philosophical or principled objection to supplying Ukraine capabilities that it needs depending on what is going on on the battlefield. That is fundamentally what we’re here about.“ 9. Wallace and Pistorius 10. SOUNDBITE (English) Ben Wallace, British Defence Secretary: “That’s quite important message to Russia that we’re not giving up. The international community hasn’t fractured. Quite the opposite, he calculated they would, we haven’t. We’re standing stronger every day. And if you look at, for example, Germany’s donations to Britain donations, they’ve gone up not down. They’ve got stronger, not weaker. And if President Putin can’t pick up on what that means, then he’s going to find himself very quickly in the wrong place at the wrong time.“ 11. Wallace and Pistorius shaking hands STORYLINE: British and German top diplomats on Wednesday ruled out supplying Ukraine with any fighter jets, arguing they did not have the capacity to do so. “This is up to the White House to decide whether it wants to release that technology,“ British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said, referring to U.S. F-16 fighter jets. He spoke during a news conference in Berlin alongside his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. Pistorius said “we can’t play an active role because we have neither the training capacity, the capability, nor the aircraft.“ Ukraine’s president was visiting allies this week in search of further arms to help his country fend off the Russian invasion, and funds to rebuild what’s been destroyed by more than a year of devastating conflict. After initially hesitating to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, including Leopard 1 and 2 battle tanks, and the sophisticated IRIS-T SLM air-defense system. Modern Western hardware is considered crucial if Ukraine is to succeed in its planned counteroffensive against Russian troops. Wallace said it was important to signal to Moscow that there are “no philosophical or principled objection“ to supplying Kyiv with what they need “depending on what is going on on the battlefield.“ AP video shot by Hakan Kaplan =========================================================== Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: