French president Emmanuel Macron said he has not ruled out sending fighter jets to Ukraine, in a sign of how far the position of Kyiv’s allies has moved in recent weeks.
For the best part of a year after Russia invaded its neighbour, Western nations refused to send tanks to the Ukrainian army, fearing retaliation from Vladimir Putin.
Now tanks are on their way from Britain, the US, Poland and elsewhere and the boundaries of support for Ukraine’s defence are in flux.
Mr Macron said certain conditions would have to be met by Ukraine before France sent jets. They could not be used to “touch Russian soil” and Ukraine would have to formally request the planes, among other measures.
The French president will meet visiting Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov in Paris on Tuesday.
The Kremlin is furious about the tank shipments, accusing the West of effectively taking part in the war, and has vowed Russian forces would wipe out any tanks shipped to Ukraine.
Earlier, a Russian company offered approximately £58,000 to the first soldiers who destroy or capture western-made tanks in Ukraine.
