![]() ![]() Pentagon policy chief Colin Kahl recently told lawmakers weapons for dominating Ukrainian airspace, like Western warplanes, are worth less than air defense equipment aimed at denying the skies to Russia, like the Patriot system.į-16s or other fighters are “a priority for the Ukrainians, but not one of their top three priorities,” Kahl told the House Armed Services Committee on Feb. ![]() Defence Secretary Ben Wallace telling journalists in February: “Don’t rule anything in, don’t rule anything out.”īut not everyone is convinced. ![]() Some Western government leaders have kept the door cracked open when it comes to providing fighter jets, with U.K. The aircraft was flying low low over rebel-held territory. Smoke billows from the flaming debris of a crashed Ukrainian fighter jet near the Donetsk area in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Jared Golden, D-Maine Tony Gonzales, R-Texas Jason Crow, D-Colo. “In contrast to the current, ground-based air defense platforms currently used by Ukrainian forces, fighter aircraft’s ability to quickly traverse a large battlespace with a significant weapons payload could prove decisive for control of Ukrainian airspace this year,” the lawmakers - Reps. President Joe Biden, a bipartisan group of lawmakers urged the administration to provide F-16s or other fighters to Ukraine, and to quickly make a decision so the country has time to train its pilots. “I assure you that Ukrainian soldiers can perfectly operate American tanks and planes themselves.” “Ukraine never asked the American soldiers to fight on our land instead of us,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an in-person address to Congress in December. Ukraine and its supporters say Western fighter jets are now necessary to tip the balance in Ukraine’s favor, while allowing for close air support and air interdiction missions. ![]()
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