Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded for Western nations to send more Patriot air defence systems and F16 fighter jets to protect the country from Russian missile attacks.
After months of calls from Kyiv, the first F-16 fighter jets are on their way to Ukraine and will be flying sorties this summer, the White House confirmed at a Nato summit in Washington earlier this month. About 85 of the combat aircraft have been committed to Kyiv, but many will take a significant amount of time to reach the battlefield. Ukraine has suggested it needs as many as 128 F-16s to properly battle the aerial superiority of Moscow.
Mr Zelensky said: “There will not be enough [F-16s]. They will certainly strengthen us, but will there be enough of them to fight at a level with the Russian air force? I think they will not be enough. We are anticipating a larger quantity.”
Dick Schoof, the prime minister of the Netherlands, and Mette Frederiksen, his counterpart from Denmark, said last week that the “transfer process” of F-16s to Kyiv was underway after months of pilot training and political negotiations. Ukraine also signalled more may be to come at the end of the year.
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