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French President Emmanuel Macron said on Jan. 30 that he does not rule out sending fighter jets to Ukraine. However, he said multiple conditions must be met before doing so.
Macron said that among those conditions is the assurance that such equipment will not lead to an escalation of tensions or be used to "touch Russian soil." He added that the provision of fighter jets to Ukraine must also not "weaken the capacities of the French army."
The French President said Ukraine would also have to formally request the planes, noting that he will meet Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in Paris on Jan. 31.
Earlier in the day, Presidential Office head Andrii Yermak said that Poland is ready to provide Ukraine with long-requested F-16 fighter jets in coordination with NATO.
The Dutch government also said on Jan. 20 that Ukraine hasn’t yet formally requested the jets adding that the Netherlands is ready to look into providing them when asked.
Kyiv stepped up requests for heavy weaponry from the West amid anticipated Russia’s new waves of offensives.
National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksii Danilov said on Jan. 27 that Moscow is preparing a new wave of offensives against Ukraine on Feb. 24, exactly one year from the start of the full-scale invasion, and has been testing Ukraine’s defense capabilities near Zaporizhzhia.
Danilov also said that Russian troops have been “given the task” to “go beyond the borders of” Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
