Biden says 'no' F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has remarked that the United States would not give its F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine despite the government there pushing Washington as hard as it can for more advanced weaponry to fight Russians.
After the US agreed to send Abrams battle tanks despite refusing them for months, reports came out that Ukraine might be receiving F-16 fighters next.
An adviser to Ukraine's defense minister, Yuriy Sak, said last week that Kiev planned to push for the F-16s now that it had secured a supply of battle tanks.
"The next big hurdle will now be the fighter jets," Sak, who advises Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, told Reuters on Friday.
A Ukrainian air force spokesman even went on to say that training Kiev's pilots for F-16s would take only about six months.
However, asked on Monday by reporters at the White House whether the United States would provide the F-16 jets, Biden responded, saying “No."
The brief exchange came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had begun exacting its revenge for Ukraine’s opposition to its special operations in eastern Ukraine’s pro-Russia regions.
For weeks, Zelensky has been sounding the alarm saying Russia would be making more advancement after about two months of virtual stalemate along the frontline that stretches across the south and east.
Ukraine gained a huge military boost last week when the United States and Germany ended months of refusal, announcing their approval to provide battle tanks.
The US has been providing Kiev with billions of dollars worth of sophisticated military hardware, including armored vehicles ranging from Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Stryker Personnel Carriers, mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, and high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, alongside tens of billions of dollars worth of armored vehicles made by other countries, in addition to other military equipment and ammunition of all sorts.
The West's flooding of weapons into Ukraine only prolongs the war and adds to the casualties, Russia has warned, asserting that sooner or later Moscow will obtain the objectives it set out to accomplish.
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