Live blog: Biden says 'no' to US sending F-16 jets to Ukraine

 

US President Joe Biden says he will be visiting Poland without providing the date as fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces raged on its 342nd day.

 

NBC News reported last week Biden was considering a trip to Europe, including possibly Poland, to coincide with the February 24 anniversary of Russia's offensive in Ukraine. (Reuters Archive)

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

President Joe Biden said Monday he will not be sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help its war against Russian forces.

"No," he said when asked by reporters at the White House if he was in favour of sending the jets, which Ukraine's leaders have said are at the top of their latest weapons wish list.

Biden said he will be visiting Poland, the key hub in the nearly year-long, massive Western effort to support Ukraine's war against Russian attack.

"I'm going to be going to Poland. I don't know when, though," he told reporters when asked about a visit.

 

NBC News reported last week Biden was considering a trip to Europe, including possibly Poland, to coincide with the February 24 anniversary of Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

Eventually if Ukraine is going to endure as a sovereign nation it probably will have Western weaponry, says David Des Roches, associate professor at the Near East South Asia Center and the National Defense University pic.twitter.com/l8X4gIZRAT

 — TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) January 31, 2023

Here are the other developments: 

0245 GMT – NATO to strengthen partnership with Japan – Stoltenberg

NATO will continue to strengthen its partnership with Japan, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said during a visit to Japan, where he will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

His trip is aimed at strengthening ties with Western allies in Asia in the face of the war in Ukraine and rising competition with China.

0110 GMT – Ukrainian president, Danish premier visit war-battered southern city

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have inspected a city in southern Ukraine.

A statement by the Ukrainian presidency said that Zelenskyy and Frederiksen inspected the building of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, which it said was partially destroyed by Russian missiles in the early stages of Moscow’s war with Kiev.

“Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Mette Frederiksen about the destruction the city had suffered due to enemy shelling. He informed the Prime Minister of Denmark about Mykolaiv's infrastructure recovery needs,” the statement further noted.

It said Zelenskyy and Frederiksen also visited the Mykolaiv Commercial Sea Port as well as an individual heating point and a hospital. 

Source: TRTWorld and agencies 

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