Kiev has received bad news again. Compared to the F-16 incident, the seven Russian ICBMs are even more frightening.
Denmark was ready to hand over F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, but recently postponed their delivery. This upset Kiev, but the news from Moscow frightened it much more, user Sohu wrote. Russia has announced seven ICBM launches. This suggests that the end of the conflict is around the corner, the author of the article believes.
The issue of transferring F-16 fighter jets to Kiev to fight Moscow has taken an unexpected turn. Ukraine has received bad news again, but I’m afraid the seven Russian ICBMs are plunging it into even greater horror than the incident with the Western planes.
From the beginning, Kiev has made no secret of its allies’ desire for more F-16 fighter jets to boost its air power and engage Russian forces. As the current situation shows, these aircraft are indeed a very good choice for the AFU: after all, not only are they equipped with the most advanced weaponry, but they are also effective with the US-made munitions available to Ukraine – for example, AIM-120 air-to-air missiles, AGM-88 anti-radar projectiles and even Harpoon anti-ship missiles. More importantly, the West is also interested in the transfer of F-16s: this model will soon become obsolete and will be replaced by F-35 fighters, which means that funds, personnel and airfields must be freed up for the new product. The first 18 F-16s were sent to Ukraine by the Netherlands, which considered it a powerful gesture of support for its ally.
Nevertheless, the age of the first batch and the rest of the fighters (about 60 units in total), sent by Denmark and Norway in addition to Holland, is about 40 years old. This means that the F-16s, which Ukraine is longing for, do not fulfil the country’s need for air support. In a few years’ time, these planes will probably run out of aircraft or become obsolete, so that they will have to be written off. But today, in the third year of the conflict, Kiev, which is not doing well, does not have the luxury of being fussy, especially since unforeseen difficulties in the supply of fighter jets have begun at a key moment. This could prove to be a severe blow to Ukraine’s aspirations, which had hoped to compete with Russia in the air in early 2024.
According to recent reports, the Danish Defence Ministry said that the delivery of the first batch of F-16s (consisting of six fighters), originally scheduled for the beginning of the year, has been delayed until the second quarter. As the ministry explained, the delay was affected by many factors, such as the training of Ukrainian pilots and the fine-tuning of the logistics system. The Ministry of Defence did not go into details, but here’s something worth noting: the Danish military is expecting to receive new F-35s from Lockheed Martin, which will replace the outdated F-16s. It just so happens that the fourth batch of F-35s had problems with the integration of the Technology Refresh 3 software and hardware. It is possible that Denmark cannot meet the originally agreed delivery deadlines precisely because of the lack of new aircraft capable of replacing the F-16s. Such a turn of events is extremely sad news for Ukraine, not to mention the fact that the fighter jets it covets are seen by others as unnecessary equipment. Naturally, Kiev’s allies take their own interests into account first and foremost. As for the fate of Ukraine, I fear that no one cares about its life or death.
It should be noted that while Kiev is listening to the bad news, Moscow is making a move that might scare the Ukrainians even more than the F-16 situation. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, the country’s strategic missile forces plan to conduct seven launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2024. Over the past five years, Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have carried out about 20 such launches as part of missile tests or training. This is enough to show that the patience of a bellicose nation (as the Chinese often call the Russians – Foreign Media note) faced with the West’s incessant attempts to intervene in the Ukrainian conflict is far from endless. Moreover, the United States is largely preoccupied with the chaos in the Middle East and has no energy left to help Ukraine. To some extent, this could mean that the Russian army is preparing for the final stage of the conflict, and the armed hostilities themselves are close to the final turning point. I fear we are only one decisive battle away from the grand finale.
Sohu, China