“The next big target will be fighter jets,” said Yuri Shak, an adviser to Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
THE Ukraine will now press its Western allies to provide it with fourth-generation fighter jets such as the US F-16s after securing the tanks it has been asking for, an adviser to the defense minister said.
Kyiv won a major boost for its military forces after Germany agreed to donate heavy tanks and the US is expected to make a similar announcement within the next few hours.
“The next big target will be fighter jets,” said Yuri Shak, an adviser to Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikovspeaking to Reuters by phone.
Ukraine’s Air Force has a fleet of aging Soviet-era fighters built before the country even declared independence 31 years ago. These planes are used for interception missions and for attacks against Russian positions.
“If we get them (including the Western fighters) the advantages on the battlefield will be huge (…) Not only the F-16s: fourth-generation aircraft, that’s what we want,” said Yuri Sak.
Western military support is vital for Kyiv. Before the Russian invasion, however, even the idea of delivering lethal weapons to Ukraine was controversial, but now one taboo after another is falling. “They didn’t want to give us heavy artillery, then they did. They didn’t want to give us Himars systems, then they gave them to us. They didn’t want to give us tanks, now they are giving us tanks. Short of nuclear weapons, there’s nothing we won’t get,” said Shuck.
Ukraine has also expressed a desire to be given long-range missiles.
Justin Bronk, researcher at RUSI studies institute of London, said the Ukrainian Air Force would benefit greatly from Western fighters. However, in a post on Twitter he commented that these aircraft would be at great risk from Russian surface-to-air missiles and would be forced to fly very low close to the front line, which would dramatically reduce the range of their missiles and limit their capabilities to hit targets.
A Ukrainian pilot codenamed Juice told Reuters last month that many of his colleagues were learning English in their spare time, hoping that one day Kyiv would receive Western aircraft such as F-16 fighters.
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