Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told CNN on Wednesday that Ukraine’s “wish list” for Western-supplied weapons includes fighter jets. Thus, Ukraine will now make efforts to obtain Western fighters of the fourth generation, such as the F-16, an adviser to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

“Last year I sent Santa a letter with a wish list and a fighter jet [au fost] are included in this wish list,” said Reznikov.

But he said his government’s top priority is air defense systems so they can prevent Russian air and missile attacks.

“We must close our sky, protect our sky,” said Reznikov. “This is the number one priority. After that, we need to get more armored vehicles, tanks, artillery systems, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), etc. We have people, but we need weapons,” he said.

Reznikov said, quoting Winston Churchill: “Give us the tools and we will do the job.”

The next goal of the Ukrainians is fourth-generation fighters

“The next big obstacle will now be fighter jets,” Yuri Sak, an adviser to Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, told Reuters.

The Air Force of Ukraine has a fleet of old Soviet-era fighter jets that rolled off the assembly line even before Kyiv declared independence more than 31 years ago. Combat aircraft are used for interception missions and to attack Russian positions.

“If we get them (Western fighter jets), the benefits on the battlefield will be huge… It’s not just the F-16 (US multirole fighter jets): the fourth generation of aircraft, that’s what we want,” he told Sack.

Western military support was vital for Kyiv and rapidly developed during the war. Before the invasion, even the idea of ​​providing lethal aid to Ukraine was highly controversial, but Western supplies broke taboo after taboo.

“They didn’t want to give us heavy artillery, then they did. They didn’t want to give us Khymars systems, then they did. They didn’t want to give us tanks, now they are giving us tanks. Apart from nuclear weapons, there is nothing left for us not to get,” Sack said.

Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia last February, has also said it wants to receive long-range missiles from the West.

Moscow reacted angrily on Wednesday after Germany approved the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, a mainstay of armies across Europe, which will certainly boost Ukraine’s offensive power.

Justin Bronk, a researcher at London-based think tank RUSI, said the Ukrainian Air Force has a significant advantage over Western fighters in terms of air-to-air and potentially air-to-ground lethality. But he noted on Twitter that they would still be at high risk from Russian surface-to-air missiles, forcing them to fly very low near the front lines, which would “drastically reduce the effective range of the missiles and limit attack capabilities.”

Despite the absence of any tangible changes in this regard, the Ukrainian Air Force throughout the war sought better aircraft. A Ukrainian pilot who goes by the code name Jus told Reuters last month that many of his Air Force colleagues were taking English lessons in their spare time in anticipation of the day Kyiv would receive foreign aircraft such as the F-16 fighter jet.

President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that the US will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine as part of a large-scale effort by European allies.

Biden’s remarks came after Germany said it would supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks, allaying fears about sending the heavy weapons Kyiv says is necessary to defeat a Russian invasion.