The Ukrainian Air Force deployed US-made F-16 fighter jets for the first time to intercept Russian missiles on Monday, Vladimir Zelensky has claimed. He added, however, that the number of warplanes provided by the West so far is insufficient.
A number of NATO states, including the US, France, Bulgaria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Sweden, pledged to donate the aircraft to Kiev last year. The countries established an ‘F-16 coalition’ to streamline deliveries and arrange pilot training.
While there is no set deadline, with the aircraft expected to arrive in multiple batches over several years, Ukraine can expect around 85 fighter jets, according to media estimates.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference on Tuesday, Zelensky said: “The F-16 [had] a good result… As part of this enormous [Russian] missile attack [on Monday] we shot down some of the rockets with the help of F-16s.” While the Ukrainian leader expressed gratitude to the country’s Western backers for supplying the warplanes, he called for more deliveries and broader training programs for Ukrainian pilots.
On Monday, Russia unleashed what the authorities in Kiev described as “one of the largest combined strikes” since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the “massive high-precision attack” against the neighboring country was carried out using long-range air- and sea-based weapons, as well as drones. It targeted energy facilities supporting Ukraine’s defense industrial complex in particular, as well as several airfields storing Western-supplied air munitions, officials said.
“All the designated targets have been hit,” the statement read.
Earlier this month, Zelensky confirmed on his Telegram channel the arrival of the first US-made F-16s, but did not reveal the numbers. He touted the aircraft as being capable of delivering “exactly such combat results that will bring our victory closer – our just peace for Ukraine.”
Moscow has warned that the F-16s, as has been the case with other Western weapons provided to Kiev, will not change the outcome of the conflict, and will only serve to prolong the bloodshed. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the fighter jets are not a “magic pill” and will gradually be “shot down and destroyed.” He predicted that the arrival of F-16s “will not be able to significantly influence the dynamics of events at the front.”