Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the F-16 fighter jets promised by NATO to Ukraine are very few in number, and also very late.
Ukraine needs at least 128 F-16 fighter jets to effectively counter Russia in the skies, Volodymyr Zelensky said during an interview at the "Ronald Reagan" Institute. in the USA, UNIAN news agency reported. The NATO summit begins in Washington.
Zelensky actually stated that the number of F-16s promised to Ukraine by the allies today will not be able to radically change the situation on the front. “The problem with F-16s is the number and dates of their arrival... Russia uses 300 aircraft a day in operations against Ukraine. We had a decision for 10-20, but even if there are 50, that's nothing," Zelensky said.
„They have 300 planes and we need 128. Our allies have these numbers. Therefore, until we have this number of planes, we will not be able to match them (the Russians) in the sky," the Ukrainian president said.
Ukraine has not yet received a single Western fighter jet, although the Russian aggressor has been waging a full-scale war against the Ukrainians for the third year now.
Zelensky also commented on the Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region, which began a few weeks ago. According to him, Vladimir Putin wanted to take advantage of military aid to Kiev, which had been blocked for months in the US Congress, in order to take over the country's second largest city.
Zelensky said that during the new offensive of the Russian Federation in the Kharkiv region, Kiev lost some villages that are located along the border, but managed to take and save the inhabitants. “The Russians wanted to create chaos and force people to flee. For him (Putin) it doesn't matter who he kills – soldier or civilian, so we took the people from those villages and (the Russian offensive) was not successful. Of course, our soldiers, our heroes, they stopped them, he lost a lot of people”, added the President of Ukraine.