The Ukrainian chief is hoping to accumulate three or 4 squadrons of the US-made warplanes, a key authorities adviser has mentioned
Vladimir Zelensky desires the US and its allies to offer Kiev with between 40 and 50 F-16 fighter jets to be used in its battle with Russia, in line with Yury Sak, an aide to Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov.
This can be sufficient to kind three or 4 squadrons of American-made fourth technology plane to guard the Ukrainian skies amid a large-scale Russian missile marketing campaign, Sak informed Politico on Monday.
Kiev has been asking its Western backers for F-16s for months, however the want for the jets has develop into way more urgent since March, when Russia started utilizing guided glide bombs that strike targets at better distances, the adviser claimed. Ukraine at the moment has “nothing to stop” the Russian plane that launch these munitions, he admitted.
Zelensky has been touring Europe previously week, visiting Italy, Germany, France and the UK in an try to ramp up army help for Ukraine. After talks with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday, the Ukrainian chief mentioned he wished to create a “jets coalition” of nations to facilitate the availability of F-16s to Kiev.
“I’m very positive [about the plan]. We spoke about it and I see that in the closest time, you will hear some, I think, very important decisions – but we have to work a little bit more on it,” the Ukrainian president informed reporters.
London, Rome, Berlin and Paris haven’t got F-16s to supply Ukraine however, in line with Sak, these European powers “have an important voice in the international coalition.” Kiev desires them to “encourage” their allies, such because the US and Turkey, to make the deliveries, he defined.
Zelensky’s newest diplomatic efforts have resulted in him receiving “assurances” from Western leaders that they’d handle the difficulty of F-16s on the annual G7 assembly in Hiroshima, Japan this weekend.
“Everybody understands that the topic is ripe for discussion. Nobody said that it’s impossible. If you compared it with three months ago, when we were still struggling to get tanks, today everybody is talking about the jet coalition – that’s a very promising sign,” Sak mentioned.
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Russia has repeatedly warned that deliveries of extra refined weapons to Ukraine by the US and its allies may cross its ‘pink traces’, which might result in a significant escalation. According to Moscow, the availability of arms, intelligence sharing and coaching supplied to Kiev’s troops have already made Western nations de facto events to the battle.
(RT.com)