British Cabinet minister: We haven’t got any f***ing jets to give

LONDON, UK — An unnamed member of the British cabinet reacted very emotionally to the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to deliver planes to Kyiv. INews writes about it. “We haven’t got any f***ing jets to give,” the politician told the British media.

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Sources of the publication also note that the delivery of aircraft will be very expensive for the British budget. Earlier, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that London does not rule out the possibility of transferring combat aircraft to Kyiv, this issue is being discussed.

However, the British Prime Minister also does not rule out the possibility that London will not be able to send warplanes to Ukraine. However, Mr. Rushi Sunak promised Zelensky that if this happens, London will act as a mediator and assist other countries to send fighter jets. Mr. Sunak was mainly targeting the USA and Germany.

At the moment, the White House excludes the delivery of F-16 to Ukraine. But that possibility has always existed because changing one’s mind is part of the political position. According to a source from the White House, speaking to the British publication iNews, the mood is changing. “There is more and more talk about sending F-16s to Ukraine,” the source told the British publication.

According to the source, the tanks are the driving force behind sending fighter jets to Ukraine. The source in Washington said that once it was impossible but then possible to send tanks to Ukraine, “then there is a growing argument that we can provide jets.”

Russia did not remain idle in the last hours. The embassy in London heard the words of the British Prime Minister and reacted. “The aircraft deliveries will have military and political implications for the entire European continent,” the embassy said officially.

London may decide to send Eurofighter Typhoon to Kyiv. There are currently 130 operationally ready in the Royal Air Force. 30 of them are being prepared to be decommissioned. They are scheduled to stop flying sometime around 2025-2026. If London is going to send Typhoons, they will most likely be of those 30 fighters.

Sending fighter jets to Ukraine is not the same as sending tanks or artillery or drones. This process is complicated. It could take a year or more. First – pilot training. A very difficult task amid the domestic problems with British pilot training. This a problem that will 100 percent reflect on the training of potential Ukrainian pilots.

Second – London specifically in this case will not act on its own, as it did with the Challenger tanks. The British will look to Washington and Berlin for support, although they can get it from Paris.

Third, the problem is not logistics, the problem is infrastructure. Ukraine does not have the infrastructure to take on the maintenance and operation of Western aircraft, regardless of what type they are [except for the Swedish Gripens]. Otherwise, the equipment provided will not be able to be used properly and will be exposed to a much greater Russian threat.

How important are airplanes to Ukraine? At some point, the scales may even out, but Ukraine will continue to have the main problem – air defense. Ukraine has managed to reduce Russian influence on the ground, but Russia still holds the air. Sending fighter jets to Ukraine would also reduce Russian influence in the air, but it would not change the ratio or displace Russian air superiority.

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