After getting tanks, Ukraine seeks fighter jets and long-range missiles
Mike Brest
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Less than 24 hours after the United States and Germany agreed to provide Ukraine with more than 40 tanks, Kyiv is turning its attention to getting fighter jets and long-range missiles.
The U.S. and Germany’s Wednesday announcement that they would give tanks to Ukraine, meeting an urgent request from Kyiv, came after both countries initially declined to provide them. U.S. defense officials said last week the M1 Abrams weren’t included in what was previously the most-recent aid package due to sustainment and maintenance concerns, while German officials reportedly told U.S. lawmakers that they would not send their Leopard tanks into the conflict unless President Joe Biden also sent Abrams tanks.
BIDEN ANNOUNCES TRANSFER OF TANKS TO UKRAINE, PRAISES GERMANY FOR DOING THE SAME
The U.S. and other western countries have provided different weapons systems throughout the war to meet the Ukrainians’ evolving battlefield needs, and like in the case of the tanks, they have often reversed course on weapons they had previously denied to provide despite requests from Kyiv.
Yuriy Sak, who advises Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, told Reuters that Ukraine is now seeking F16 fighter jets from the United States.
“The next big hurdle will now be the fighter jets,” he said, adding, “If we get them (Western fighter jets), the advantages on the battlefield will be just immense.”
“They didn’t want to give us heavy artillery, then they did. They didn’t want to give us Himars systems, then they did. They didn’t want to give us tanks, now they’re giving us tanks. Apart from nuclear weapons, there is nothing left that we will not get,” Sak continued.
National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday that it’s not the first time they made such requests, though nothing is imminent.
“We’re in constant discussions with the Ukrainians about their capabilities. And as I’ve said, we evolve those as the conditions change,” Kirby said. “Can’t blame the Ukrainians for wanting more and more systems. It’s not the first time that they’ve talked about fighter jets. But I don’t have any announcements to make on that front.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked both countries on Wednesday, though he also said that he spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about their need for long-range missiles, another system the U.S. has declined to give them.
“Today I spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg,” he explained. “We have to unlock the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine, it is important for us to expand our cooperation in artillery, we have to achieve the supply of aircraft to Ukraine. And this is a dream. And this is a task. An important task for all of us.”
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While Ukraine has asked for the ATACMs, surface-to-surface long-range missile systems, for months, Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters last week that the Department of Defense has determined that “to date has been that the juice isn’t really worth the squeeze.”
“The Ukrainians can change the dynamic on the battlefield and achieve the type of effects they want to push the Russians back without ATACMs,” he added, though he did leave open the possibility that the department’s stance on ATACMs could change over time.
The U.S. has not provided weapons that would enable strikes within Russia’s border over concerns about how the Kremlin would respond, though the U.S. and western allies have provided Ukraine with weapons they had previously declined citing fear of escalation, such as with the tanks.