Westerners who will deliver F-16s to kyiv expose themselves to “enormous risks”, warns Moscow

“We see that Western countries still adhere to the scenario of escalation.” The day after US President Joe Biden’s announcement authorizing Western countries to deliver US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Moscow reacted on Saturday, May 20, through the voice of its deputy minister. Foreign Affairs. “It carries huge risks for them,” warned Alexander Grushko, quoted by the Russian agency TASS (in Russian). “In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the means necessary to achieve the objectives set”, he added.

Volodymyr Zelensky had been asking his Western allies for months to provide him with planes that would allow the Ukrainian army to strike Russian troops in depth. So far, kyiv’s allies, and in particular the United States, have refused to respond favorably to these requests, citing the risk of escalation of the conflict.

Train Ukrainian pilots

Assuring that American doctrine had no “not changed”, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan explained on Friday that this delivery of weapons responds to “demands of the conflict”believing that the F-16s are among the equipment that kyiv needs “in the future” For “to be able to deter and defend against any Russian aggression”.

From the G7 summit in Japan, Joe Biden said Friday that Washington also supports a joint initiative by their allies to train Ukrainian pilots. During these long months of training, Westerners will decide on the schedule for the delivery of planes, their number and the countries that will provide them.

The United Kingdom has said it is ready to work with its allies to “provide Ukraine with the air combat capability it needs”, while Emmanuel Macron also said he was ready on Monday to provide Ukrainian pilots with training, the outlines of which have yet to be clarified.