Just days after committing to supplying tanks, the German chancellor ruled out sending fighter jets to Ukraine.
Olaf Scholz cautioned against a bidding war for arms in an interview with a German newspaper.
However, Ukraine has requested that allies form a “fighter jet coalition” to bolster their capabilities.
The United States has stated that it will discuss the idea of supplying jets to Ukraine “very carefully” on Thursday.
In an interview with Tagesspiegel, Mr. Scholz emphasized the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks manufactured in Germany.
“It’s ludicrous that we’ve just decided to send tanks and the next argument is starting in Germany,” he said.
After weeks of pressure from allies, Germany agreed on Wednesday to provide 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
In response to Germany’s promise, the US offered Ukraine M1 Abrams tanks.
Andrii Melnyk, the deputy foreign minister of Ukraine, has proposed the formation of a “fighter jet coalition” that would provide Ukraine with F-16s and F-35s from the United States, Eurofighters, Tornados, French Rafales, and Swedish Gripen jets.
German chancellor rejects military jets for Ukraine
Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the Ukrainian president, told Ukraine’s Freedom Television Network that missiles were also required “to drastically reduce the Russian army’s primary weapon.”
In a daily video address, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky echoed this sentiment, stating that the country required the 185-mile-range ATACMS missile manufactured in the United States (297km).
He stated that the missiles would assist Ukraine in anticipating Russian urban and civilian attacks.
The United States has thus far refused to provide this weapon.
“We will not allow such an escalation,” Mr. Scholz told Tagesspiegel in a NATO-Russia war denial.
He confirmed that he regularly communicates with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with their most recent conversation occurring in December 2022.
“We need to talk,” he said, adding that he had always been adamant that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was utterly unacceptable and that only the withdrawal of its troops would resolve the situation.
