The F-16s arriving in Ukraine will not be a miracle cure for Ukraine that will equalise its chances on the battlefield, says journalist and essayist Vansen Uzho. He explained on LCI that a few dozen fighter jets will help strengthen defences, but will not change the balance of power.
VANSEN UJO, leading journalist and essayist: Contrary to tradition, I will agree with Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. No, this (F-16 deliveries. – Inotv) is not a miracle cure, it is not a panacea. We can talk all we want about the capabilities of fighter jets, but the truth is that so far we are talking about deliveries in almost homeopathic doses. The question is whether the necessary critical mass has been reached to affect the balance of power. This is what Zelensky dreams of and hopes for – to level the playing field. Zelenskyy says that 130 F-16 fighters are needed to be able to fight back the Russian air force.
However, if there are only a few dozen of them, you can really strengthen the defensive capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force, but it will not allow them to go further. Good – they will be able to intercept bombers, missiles, even drones. That said, even if Ukraine were allowed to use these fighters to strike Russian territory, they would not be able to change the balance of power. There are too few of them, they arrived too late – as always since the beginning of this military conflict.