Germany reiterates stance not to send warplanes to Ukraine
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The German government claims that it will not change its decision on refusing to provide Ukraine with warplanes.
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A German Eurofighter jet
The German government's spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann pointed out on Monday that the government's refusal to supply Ukraine with fighter jets remains unchanged and any speculations on this topic are untimely.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius recently claimed that Germany had no plans to send warplanes to Ukraine.
"The Federal Chancellor already spoke on this topic in parliament last week. He also said yesterday during his trip to South America that everything had already been said on this topic and combat aircraft were out of the question," Hoffmann told reporters, adding that the stance outlined by Scholz "remains unchanged".
On Monday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Kiev expects to receive fighter jets from the West in the near future and it would take Ukrainian pilots at least six months to learn how to operate them.
A couple of days ago, Colonel Yurii Ihnat, the spokesperson for the Air Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said Kiev intends to obtain 24 F-16 fighter jets from its international allies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considered last week that the West must provide Kiev with jets and long-range missiles in order to help the fight against Russia.
Elsewhere, Hoffman also rejected speculations that there was "some kind of competition" among Western countries in the amount of military assistance provided to Ukraine, saying that it was an "unnecessary debate at the present time."
"We made a decision on the Leopard tanks only last week. And now we are in the process of implementing logistics and training. And these are the issues that are now in focus and that first of all have to be resolved," she pointed out.
Read more: Argentina turns down German request to send weapons to Ukraine
