European Council President Charles Michel has strongly suggested that he is in favour of sending fighter jets to Ukraine, in the latest of several indications that Western military support for Kyiv will be significantly ramped up over the coming months.
In an interview with Le Soir, Michel — who was an outspoken advocate of sending advanced Western tanks to Ukraine prior to Germany and the US's joint decision to do so last month — repeatedly emphasised the importance of increasing arms shipments to Kyiv.
"Now is the time to support Ukraine militarily!" Michel said. "Not to invade Russia, [but] to repel aggression, to defend the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the international borders of Ukraine... I repeat: it is now that Ukraine needs military aid."
When asked specifically whether he supported sending Kyiv advanced Western fighter jets — a prospect long demanded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — Michel pointedly refused to deny that he did, while suggesting that it was possible to "guess" his true views on the matter.
"I do not wish today to say public things in relation to this," Michel said. "When I spoke about tanks, it was [to generate] momentum. I thought it was useful to express myself to encourage the decision. I want to choose the moment when I say things publicly. We understood my general state of mind. The more subtle ones may have guessed what I have in mind. But I will speak on this topic when it is useful."
Since Russia's full-scale invasion last year, Western countries have provided approximately €112 billion in military, humanitarian, and financial aid to Ukraine.
Ready to wing it
Michel's remarks follow numerous other signs from Western and Ukrainian leaders over the past few weeks suggesting that the delivery of Western fighter planes to Kyiv — once considered almost unthinkable — is now becoming a genuine possibility.
On Thursday, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution which reaffirmed the institution's "support for providing military assistance to Ukraine for as long as is necessary", and also "call[ed] for serious consideration to be given to delivering Western fighter jets and helicopters, appropriate missile systems and substantial increases in munitions delivery to Kyiv".
Moreover, on Wednesday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that he was "absolutely" confident that the West will provide Kyiv with fighter jets, adding that such deliveries were "vital" as they will allow the Ukrainian government "to protect our civil population, first of all, and certainly our armed forces".
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Similarly, at the end of January, French President Emmanuel Macron — widely regarded as one of the Western leaders most sympathetic to Moscow — also refused to rule out the delivery of fighter jets so long as they wouldn't be used "to touch Russian soil" or their shipment "weaken the capacities of the French army".
Such comments contrast markedly with those made by Western officials in the early stages of the war. In March 2022, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby explicitly ruled out sending fighter jets to Kyiv, arguing that such an action would likely be viewed as dangerous escalation by Moscow.
Kirby, now a spokesperson for US National Security Council, told CNN in January that Zelenskyy had indeed asked for fighter jets. "We are constantly talking to the Ukrainians about their needs, and want to make sure that we're doing the best we can to meet them – and if we can't, that some of our allies and partners can."
