A bipartisan group of US senators sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday urging him to investigate the possibility of sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky He was pressing the United States and other allies to provide military aircraft throughout the year-long war. President Biden has so far refused to allow fighter jets to Ukraine, but eight senators wrote in a letter on Tuesday that the country is at a “critical juncture in the conflict” and may need an air force to prevail.
“After speaking with leaders of the United States, Ukraine, and foreigners working to support Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference last month, we believe the United States needs to take a hard look at providing F-16s to Ukraine,” the senators wrote in the letter, led by Senator Mark Kelly. , D-Ariz.
“This will be an important ability that can prove to be a game-changer on the battlefield.”
From file: An F-16 fighter jet lands before an airshow in New York City. (Atilgan Ozdil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The letter indicated that two Ukrainian pilots had recently flown to Tucson, Arizona, to participate in a skills assessment on an F-16 simulator at Morris Air National Guard Base. The senators described it as a “critical step” in measuring the ability of Ukrainian forces to receive Western fighter jets. The Ukrainian army mostly uses Soviet-made aircraft such as the MiG-29.
Ukraine was the third largest arms importer in 2022, thanks to help from the United States and Europe
A bipartisan group of House of Representatives sent a similar letter to Biden last month urging him to supply the planes to Ukraine.
“The F-16 or similar fourth-generation fighter aircraft will provide Ukraine with a highly mobile platform from which to target Russian air-to-air missiles and drones, to protect Ukrainian ground forces as they engage Russian forces, as well as to engage Russian fighters over contested air superiority.” the lawmakers wrote on February 28.
FILE: Two Russian Polish Air Force built MiG-29s fly over and below two Polish-American F-16 fighter jets during an airshow in Radom, Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz, file)
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday that his government may send Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine “within the next four to six weeks,” according to the Associated Press. Other European allies have also indicated that they are open to supplying military aircraft to Ukraine.
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This wouldn’t be the first time the United States has reversed course on sending certain types of military equipment to Ukraine. The United States held off sending M1 Abrams tanks for several months before the Pentagon announced in January that it would send 31 tanks to the battlefield.
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