Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said that his country needs planes itself BRUSSELS, February 9.
/tass/. Belgium is not considering the possibility of providing Ukraine with its aircraft, "she needs them herself." This was stated on Thursday by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo upon arrival at the EU summit, which was attended by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
"We really need these planes ourselves and we cannot give them away," he said. - Belgian aircraft protect the skies over Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as NATO airspace in the Baltic States (as part of the NATO rotational air patrol mission - approx. TASS)".
Earlier, Belgium refused to supply tanks to Ukraine, saying that this measure would be "excessively expensive." Instead, it accepted a package of assistance to Kiev, which included a large batch of light small arms, including assault rifles and machine guns produced in Belgium at FN factories, as well as anti-tank and anti-aircraft portable missile systems and ammunition.
Earlier, a TASS diplomatic source in Brussels said that no decision on the transfer of aircraft to Kiev will be made at the summit, the discussion on practical operational solutions will continue in NATO, and Zelensky's visit is primarily "motivational."
On January 31, US President Joe Biden said that Washington would not transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that Kiev has been invited to begin training in the UK marines and fighter pilots in service with NATO. Later, the representative of Sunak clarified that the government has not yet made a decision on the transfer of fighters to Ukraine, this issue will be studied from different sides.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius have repeatedly stated that Germany is not going to supply fighter jets to Ukraine.