US President Joe Biden denied the possibility of delivering fighter jets to Ukraine as part of the military aid offered to that country in the war with Russia, but did not rule out the provision of such aircraft in the coming years, the DPA agency reported on Saturday, citing. from Agerpres.

Joe BidenPhoto: Saul Loeb / AFP / Profimedia Images

“He doesn’t need the F-16 right now,” Biden said in an ABC interview when asked about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s insistence that his military get Western fighter jets, including the F-16.

From the point of view of the American military, Biden explained, the transfer of such weapons to the Ukrainian army is currently impractical. “But no one can know what will be needed in a year, two or three,” added the leader of the White House, announcing on Friday, on the anniversary of the start of the Russian military campaign against Ukraine, a new military aid package for the latter, worth about 2 billion dollars

At a press conference that also took place on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again called for the creation of an “air coalition” that would provide his country with fighter jets, similar to a “tank coalition.” Although he admitted that this is a “difficult topic”, he expressed confidence that “this taboo will be overcome”, as happened with modern tanks, which Western countries initially refused to transfer to Kyiv, but over time Ukraine will receive more than 60 German Leopard 2 tanks , 14 British Challenger 2 tanks and, on a more distant time horizon, 31 American M1 Abrams tanks.

Military experts note that providing Western fighter jets to Ukraine is currently not a practical measure, given that Ukrainian pilots will need a lot of time to train and familiarize themselves with these devices.

According to CNN, Zelensky intends to send US congressmen a list of weapons that, according to the Ukrainian army, are necessary to defeat Russia, which will include F-16 aircraft. But there are some voices in the Republican camp in the US Congress who criticize the proposed US military aid to Ukraine, which has so far reached a total of more than 32 billion dollars.

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