Oleksii Reznikov, the defense minister of Ukraine, expresses optimism that Western allies will eventually provide his nation with cutting-edge fighter jets, such as the American-made F-16 fighter jets, and notes that Ukrainian forces are prepared to begin training on newly committed cutting-edge battle tanks “as soon as possible.”
“What is impossible today is absolutely possible tomorrow,” Reznikov said in a statement for NPR.
The defense minister expressed his expectation that the Ukrainian military would begin receiving training on the Leopard 2 and Abrams tanks, which Germany and the United States had previously agreed to provide to Ukraine. 14 Challenger tanks, which the U.K. is delivering to Ukraine, are already being used to train Ukrainian soldiers.
He claims that the Patriot air defense missiles, which the U.S. promised President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in December, are slated for fast-track training, which he is hopeful will happen. This month, the U.S. at Fort Sill in Oklahoma began training Ukrainians to fight against them.
“Normal training courses for Patriot consist [of] 10 months,” Reznikov said, adding that Ukrainian troops will train with the military in the U.S. for “probably 10 weeks.”
According to Reznikov, Ukraine also requires time to establish fuel and spare component supply systems, as well as to educate mechanics on how to maintain and fix the new tanks. Similar to how HIMARs (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) assisted Ukrainian troops in retaking the southern city of Kherson in November, he says that these new tanks will be a “game changer” as Ukraine attempts to recapture seized territory.
Reznikov is also advocating for fighter planes, particularly F-16s, which Ukraine has been seeking since the Russian invasion started.
But for the time being, the US won’t be deploying F-16 fighter fighters to Ukraine.
President Joe Biden refused to transfer the airplanes that Kyiv is fervently requesting when asked about it by a reporter Monday outside the White House.
The brief comment, which came after days of what seemed to be momentum toward moving the fighter planes eastward, is certain to cause shockwaves over the Atlantic. It may also deteriorate ties with Kyiv, which were already amicable following a joint American-German agreement last week to deploy main combat tanks to the front lines.
When questioned about Biden’s comment, a U.S. official who preferred to remain anonymous responded that “there hasn’t been any significant, high-level talk regarding F-16s.” In other words, it doesn’t seem like Biden’s statement is the outcome of an internal policy review; rather, it appears to be the present position of the person who makes the final choice.
