“Three tanks after two years of Russian aggression, 1000 rounds of ammunition….”
Authorities in Ukraine – reeling from the prospect of much reduced US aid this year – are hoping Portugal will be one of the European countries that helps pick up the slack as the country fights for its survival against Russian aggression.
In an interview with Lusa to mark the end of this week’s visit by the ministers of education and foreign affairs, official for the presidency Ihor Zhovkva, said his country is hoping Portugal’s next government will supply F16 fighter jets, and increase military support generally.
In the heyday of its absolute majority, the current caretaker government said it was unable to donate F16s “for the simple reason that all the aircraft available are required to fulfill national obligations and those with NATO”. But Portugal has always been willing to train Ukrainian pilots in the use of F-16s.
Indeed, through the course of the last two years in which Ukraine has been fending off Russian invaders, Portugal has made a number of announcements on aid being sent.
In his interview with Lusa, however, Ihor Zhovkva, summed up the military donations as “three tanks, no more than a thousand rounds of ammunition” – albeit he said that even this “small amount is important because every piece of military equipment and ammunition counts.
“We hope that after the (parliamentary) elections on March 10, the level of support will not decrease but increase, because we can count on more support from Portugal…”
“We appreciate the fact that Portugal is part of the F-16 coalition and that it has joined in terms of training not only for pilots but also for technicians and engineers, which is very important. But we would certainly like Portugal to deliver F-16s,” he went on.
Ukrainian authorities are aware that Portugal doesn’t have a large number of these combat aircraft. However, “as with the example of the tanks, it would be good to have at least several of them. It would be very symbolic if Portugal wanted to supply these aircraft”, he said (possibly unaware how few the country actually has – at last count, the number was 28, divided into two squadrons).
The interview showed that Zhovkva hopes Portugal will become “one of the five main countries making deliveries” to Ukraine. The other four being the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Norway. (Reading between the lines, it could be that Ihor Zhovkva has an elevated impression of Portugal’s military capacity).
Portugal’s head of diplomacy (João Gomes Cravinho) nevertheless lived up to his job description, telling Lusa that he could not specify the type of aid Portugal has in the pipeline for Ukraine, but that defence minister Helena Carreiras “has been making great efforts” in this direction.
According to Portugal’s own Ministry of Defence data, this country has already delivered three Leopard 2A6 combat cars (the tanks Ihor Zhovkva was referring to), 28 M113 armoured personnel carriers and other military equipment, including automatic rifles, heavy machine guns, protection and communications equipment, medical and sanitary equipment, artillery ammunition, unmanned aerial systems and generators.
New support in the pipeline reportedly involves three M113 armoured personnel carriers and two M577 rescue and medical support vehicles.
During the visit to Kyiv, João Gomes Cravinho reiterated Portugal’s willingness to provide training in F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian forces but did not indicate whether the training was already taking place, once again referring clarification to the Minister of Defence. Nor did he point to the possibility of the delivery of the fighter jets – but he left Ukrainian authorities with the idea that no changes are expected in the commitment of Portuguese support to Kyiv after the parliamentary elections, writes Lusa
Which leaves the much-needed increase in the number of F-16s able to help protect Ukrainian forces on the ground very much ‘up in the air’. At this point in the long, deeply-damaging war, this is possibly the last thing Ukraine needs to hear. ND
Source material: LUSA
