The UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said that the UK will support Poland and any other eastern and central European nation if they are willing to supply Russian-designed jet fighters to Ukraine.
Though Poland earlier proposed this in the initial weeks of the Russian ‘military operation’ in Ukraine, the US shot down the proposal citing that such a move can bring NATO into direct conflict with Russia and thus prolong the war.
The UK at that time said that it would support Poland in case it supplies Ukraine with Soviet-era MiG-29 jets.
However, this time around Ben Wallace, according to a report by news agency the Guardian, said that the UK ‘would be willing to backfill – lend airpower to make up any shortfall’ if such a situation arises.
He still pointed out that the US and some of its western European allies feel that such a measure would be escalatory and it is a topic of debate between the allies. “The only real key is the debate about air,” Wallace was quoted as saying by news agency the Guardian.
The UK’s emboldened approach comes after the US and its western European allies ramped up their lethal weapons support for the Ukrainian forces.
The US supplying 155mm Nato standard howitzers, Germany supplying Gepard 2 mobile artillery and Britain providing a range of armoured vehicles in the recent weeks shows that the US and the West could be open to the idea of sending jets to help Ukraine.
If Poland was to go ahead with the proposal, it would surely mean that the war could be prolonged and further worsen the situation that Ukrainians are currently facing, leading to more deaths, injuries and war crimes.
It will also worsen the condition of the global economy which is yet to recover from the effects of Covid-19. It also means global food prices, fuel prices and international trade will continue to be affected.
It is also no surprise that the US is using this opportunity to supply weapons to Ukraine in order to contain Russia as it remains unclear as to what the outcome of the war is going to be.
It should also be mentioned that Russia’s expansionist attitude also worries Baltic nations and eastern European nations which border the nation.
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