German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets is a long-term project. He said this on the sidelines of the “Group of Seven” summit in Hiroshima, reports Berliner Zeitung
Photo: Gettyimages.ru © Ali Atmaca/Anadolu Agency
At the same time, he said, the United States “has not yet definitively decided what will happen at the end of the training”.
Russia should not expect its support for Ukraine to weaken as the conflict grows longer, Scholz said.
At the same time, the media point out that Germany has not yet declared its readiness to participate in the process of training Ukrainian pilots. In this regard, Scholz pointed out that after the USA, Germany is the country which has provided Ukraine with the most support in terms of financial, humanitarian and military assistance.
Earlier, the NBC TV channel reported that the USA and its G7 allies had agreed to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, InoTV has reported. In his turn, US Presidential National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on the sidelines of the G7 summit that the issue of supplying the aircraft will be resolved in the coming months. He added that, in Washington’s opinion, the fighter jets were not on the list of weapons that Ukraine badly needed at the moment.
At the same time, on 21 May, Joe Biden announced the allocation of a new $375m military aid package to Ukraine. According to Politico, the USA will supply the Kiev regime with additional artillery ammunition, armoured vehicles and anti-tank weapons.
We would like to add that Kiev is already targeting to receive several dozen F-16 fighter jets, which, according to Yuriy Ignat, adviser to the Ukrainian Air Force Command, could replace all four main types of combat aircraft of the AFU – Su-24, Su-25, Su-27 and MiG-29.
“They will not be handed over one by one, these aircraft will be handed over by units. A whole unit is a squadron – 12-18 aircraft. Thus, several dozen may be transferred to Ukraine first,” he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.
In Moscow, commenting on the information on the possible supply of Western warplanes to Kiev, it was stated that Western countries are pursuing an escalation scenario.
“It entails enormous risks for them. In any case, this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve our goals,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Grushko said, as quoted by TASS.
“The West absolutely does not care about Ukraine.”
The main goal of the West and the US is by no means the victory of Ukraine on the battlefield, but the delaying of hostilities, retired military columnist Viktor Litovkin told RT.
“They absolutely don’t care about Ukraine. They do not even supply weapons to Ukraine in the amount it needs, but in portions. First the multiple rocket launchers, then tanks, now they promise aircrafts. Ukraine is going to conduct a so-called counter-offensive and they have no planes and cannot cover their artillery and tanks on the battlefield. This means that if they go on the offensive, Russia will destroy all this armoured equipment,” he said.
In addition to training pilots, which would take at least three months, he said, the Kiev regime would also need airfields with the appropriate infrastructure, as well as infrastructure to maintain the aircraft.
“Therefore, the task of the West is to delay this process,” Litovkin added.
The West is beginning to realise the deadlock in its line of support for the Kiev regime, so politicians, particularly German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, are no longer bragging about slogans, said Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the IMEMO RAS Centre for European Studies.
“Both experts and so-called unnamed officials in the US and European administrations admit that it is no longer possible to make Kiev an instrument of military struggle against Russia, i.e. to achieve a battlefield victory for Ukraine. Therefore, many politicians are looking for options to save face. The realisation of the deadlock of this situation for the West is penetrating their minds more and more,” the RT interlocutor stressed.
Roman Shimaev, Polina Poletaeva, RT
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