US Permits Allies To Supply Ukraine With F-16 Fighter Jets

The United States says it will allow its Western allies to supply Ukraine with modern fighter jets, including American-made F-16s, a significant military boost for Ukraine’s government, which has coveted the jets since the war began in February 2022.

President Joe Biden “informed his G7 counterparts” of the resolution at the bloc’s summit in Japan on Friday night, May 19, according to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. He also stated that US Marines will teach Kyiv’s pilots to use the jets.

Legally, countries may only resale or re-export American military hardware with US approval, therefore this decision allows other countries to deploy their current stocks of F-16s to Ukraine.

However, no government has stated that upgraded fighter jets will be sent to Kyiv.

The US and allies had so far “focused on providing Ukraine with the systems weapon and training it needs to conduct offensive operations this spring and summer,” Sullivan told reporters in Hiroshima, Japan.

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“Now we have turned to discussions about improving the Ukrainian air force as part of our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s self-defence. As the training unfolds in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them, and how many,” he added

Before the official announcement on Saturday, President Zelensky stated that the jets will “greatly enhance our army in the sky.”

He expressed excitement about “discussing the practical implementation” of the plan during the G7 summit in Hiroshima, where he landed on Saturday.

The US had been hesitant to provide Ukraine with modern fighter jets, with several NATO member countries concerned that doing so would be interpreted as intensifying the war and risking a direct confrontation with Russia.

Sullivan told reporters that the US had delivered weapons to Kyiv as needed on the battlefield and that the decision to allow fighter jets to fly signalled that the conflict had reached a new phase.

“Now we have delivered everything we said we were going to deliver, so we put the Ukrainians in a position to make progress on the battlefield through the counteroffensive. We’ve reached a moment where it is time to look down the road and say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force to defend against Russian aggression,” he said.

Sullivan also stated that any jets supplied by Ukraine would be used solely for defense and that the US would neither permit nor assist strikes on Russian territory.

“The Ukrainians have consistently indicated that they are prepared to follow through on that,” he said.