Sweden's refusal to send fighter jets to Ukraine

The Swedish Defense Minister stressed that the country is not ready to send fighters to Ukraine, since there is a shortage of fighters in Stockholm itself.

According to the AAA news agency, despite Ukraine's request from its Western allies to send equipment to that country, Swedish Defense Minister Paul Jonsson said: "Because we are facing a shortage of fighters, we refuse to send fighters to Ukraine."
 
In his statement, he confirmed that Sweden does not intend to send fourth-generation Gripen (JAS) multirole fighter jets to Ukraine.The Swedish official added: "We don't currently have any surplus JAS aircraft that we can send to Ukraine."According to the Minister of Defense of the European country, Sweden's support for Ukraine is now based on the training and maintenance of the equipment that was previously sent to Ukraine.
 
Johnson also said Sweden's involvement may be needed in joint service and repair centers near the border with Ukraine.In February, Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Kristerson did not rule out future decisions to provide combat aircraft to Ukraine, but stressed that such assistance would require an international coalition.