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Oleksii Reznikov, Defense Minister of Ukraine, says he is absolutely certain his country will receive fighter jet aircraft from its allies.
Two F-16A jet fighters. Image credit: U.S. Air Force / Staff Sgt. Greg L. Davis via Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
His statement came during the minister’s interview with Reuters in Brussels today. He also mentioned that Ukraine has received a lot of weapons and military systems that previously were thought to be impossible to get, and compares these cases from the past to the current situation where allies still remain reluctant to send modern aircraft to stave off the Russian invasion.
“Impossible became possible,” Oleksii Reznikov said, with a reference to earlier similar situations. “We vitally need aircraft as a platform to defend our sky. We have to dominate in our Ukrainian sky. It will protect our civil population, first of all, and certainly our armed forces.”
According to the minister, modern attack aircraft are needed as a vital component of a complex air defense system, in order to strengthen Ukraine’s defense from Russian attacks.
Recently, both the U.S. and Germany have objected to the idea of sending F-16 jets to Ukraine. At the same time, several other countries seem to support this idea but only if similar action is taken across the entire NATO.
Reznikov, however, mentions that the possibility of sending fighter jets to Ukraine is “on the table”, and that there are ongoing discussions among allied countries about what model would be the best choice for Ukraine. Currently, the U.S. F-16 and Swedish Gripen aircraft are the most promising options.
“My dream: It should be F-16. But Gripen also is very good,” Reznikov said.
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