The Ukrainian chief has stated that F-16s have been deployed to intercept Russian missiles in the course of the huge assault on Monday
The Ukrainian Air Power deployed US-made F-16 fighter jets for the primary time to intercept Russian missiles on Monday, Vladimir Zelensky has claimed. He added, nevertheless, that the variety of warplanes offered by the West thus far is inadequate.
Quite a few NATO states, together with the US, France, Bulgaria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Sweden, pledged to donate the plane to Kiev final yr. The nations established an ‘F-16 coalition’ to streamline deliveries and organize pilot coaching.
Whereas there isn’t any set deadline, with the plane anticipated to reach in a number of batches over a number of years, Ukraine can count on round 85 fighter jets, in keeping with media estimates.
Chatting with reporters at a press convention on Tuesday, Zelensky stated: “The F-16 [had] a very good end result… As a part of this monumental [Russian] missile assault [on Monday] we shot down a few of the rockets with the assistance of F-16s.” Whereas the Ukrainian chief expressed gratitude to the nation’s Western backers for supplying the warplanes, he referred to as for extra deliveries and broader coaching applications for Ukrainian pilots.
On Monday, Russia unleashed what the authorities in Kiev described as “one of many largest mixed strikes” because the begin of the battle in February 2022.
Based on the Russian Protection Ministry, the “huge high-precision assault” towards the neighboring nation was carried out utilizing long-range air- and sea-based weapons, in addition to drones. It focused power services supporting Ukraine’s protection industrial complicated particularly, in addition to a number of airfields storing Western-supplied air munitions, officers stated.
“All of the designated targets have been hit,” the assertion learn.
Earlier this month, Zelensky confirmed on his Telegram channel the arrival of the primary US-made F-16s, however didn’t reveal the numbers. He touted the plane as being able to delivering “precisely such fight outcomes that can carry our victory nearer – our simply peace for Ukraine.”
Moscow has warned that the F-16s, as has been the case with different Western weapons offered to Kiev, won’t change the result of the battle, and can solely serve to extend the bloodshed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated that the fighter jets will not be a “magic capsule” and can step by step be “shot down and destroyed.” He predicted that the arrival of F-16s “won’t be able to considerably affect the dynamics of occasions on the entrance.”
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