Ukraine’s Push for Fighter Jets Takes Flight in Munich
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Loading... - Luna Becerra
- 21 Feb 2023
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But the West is worried that Kyiv might run out of ammo first.
Ukraine tries to get concrete weapons pledges at Munich, the United States believes China is considering giving Russia guns to fight Kyiv, and NATO’s secretary general race slowly heats up.
The Flight out of Munich
With the Munich Security Conference wrapping up just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky secured a pledge for fighter jet training from the United Kingdom, a large and variegated delegation of Ukrainians descended into the state-sponsored schmooze-a-thon with the wind at their backs to push NATO countries for the next big guns near the top of their wish list: F-16 fighter jets.
Ukrainian officials have been lobbying the Biden administration for the jets almost since the war started, and it has made a formal request for Dutch F-16s that may become redundant with Amsterdam’s purchase of F-35s. Some members of Congress and former U.S. officials want the U.S. Department of Defense to start training Ukrainian troops to fly American fighter jets–yesterday.
“This war has been going on since 2014, and most of my colleagues think it’s one year. It’s one year since a dramatically expanded invasion of Ukraine in a war that began in 2014,” said Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a close Biden ally. “In order for Ukraine to be able to deter a renewed phase of the war, they will need NATO’s standard modern, cutting edge equipment that will include F-16s.” Read More…
