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Kiev continues to pressure its allies to obtain F-16 planes and long-range missiles, but the US President, Joe Biden, has come to say no to a possible sending of these devices to Kiev.
“No”, was Joe Biden’s response to US journalists who questioned him on Monday night about the possible deployment of F-16 planes to Ukraine. The US President has thus frustrated Kiev’s hopes for an escalation of the conflict with Moscow, possibly with incursions into Russian territory with heavier weapons.
Next to the US President is Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor, who on Monday recalled that an escalation of the conflict would have serious consequences for the entire world, and called for a “serious debate” on the war. These two countries already gave in to Kiev last week by agreeing to send military tanks to reinforce the Ukrainian army.
Joe Biden was not even sure about his presence in Europe to mark the first year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying only that he was scheduled to come to Poland, but that there is no exact date for this trip.
For its part, Kiev insists that it will get the planes, as guaranteed by one of Volodymyr Zelensky’s advisers, Yuriy Sak. For Emmanuel Macron, French President, who is meeting today at the Élysée Palace with the Ukrainian Defense Minister, “nothing is out of the question” with regard to arming Kiev. However, the French head of state said that Ukraine has not yet made this request to Paris and that the fighter jets cannot be used to attack Russian soil.
The F-16 planes are produced by the Lockheed Martin company, the largest arms producer in the United States and it is up to the US Government to approve the sales and transfers of any fighter built in the United States. Even if the United States were willing to cede F-16 planes or let a country supply its F-16 fleet to Ukraine, pilot training for this type of aircraft takes months or years, delaying the possibility of this device immediately enter the war on Ukrainian soil.