Rishi Sunak rules out giving Ukraine British fighter jets as it's 'not practical'

31 January 2023, 19:04 | Updated: 31 January 2023, 19:50

The UK will not send fighter jets to Ukraine to assist it in its fight against Russia, as it would be "impractical" to do so, No 10 has said.

Kyiv has repeatedly urged its Western allies to provide jets, saying they're essential to challenging the air superiority of Putin's forces.

But the PM's spokesperson said it wouldn't be “practical” to send the war-torn nation the aircraft , due to how long it takes to train pilots to use them.

“The UK’s Typhoon and F-35 fighter jets are extremely sophisticated and take months to learn how to fly," he said. "Given that, we believe it is not practical to send those jets into Ukraine.”

He said the “length of time” in training required is the limiting factor rather than opposition to providing Zelensky's forces with the them, and didn't rule out support for allies to supply Ukraine with fighter jets.

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Downing Street denied that it would resist sending jets to aid the Ukraine war effort because the RAF did not have enough.

Britain has already committed to provide 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.

During the winter months, the conflict has been largely deadlocked on the battlefield.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace shared with Cabinet colleagues US estimates that, in the year-long invasion, 180,000 Russian troops have been killed or injured.

Rishi Sunak told the Cabinet this morning that having conducted a review of the conflict he had decided that a “prolonged stalemate” would only help Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Which was why he had decided there was an opportunity to accelerate UK support working closely with our allies to give Ukraine the best chance of success and make the most of the window of opportunity where Russian forces were on the back foot,” his spokesperson said.

Last week Ukrainian authorities persuaded Western allies to send hundreds of tanks, a decision made despite caution from some Nato members, including Germany and the US.