Biden Senate ally says Ukraine will get F-16s eventually
Joel Gehrke
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Ukraine’s acquisition of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets is just a matter of time, one of President Joe Biden’s top Senate allies surmised during a conversation with a top White House official despite the president’s public refusal.
“I understand and respect President Biden’s crisp ‘no’ in response to the question, ‘Will we be sending F-16s?’” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said Monday. “I understood that — Jake, you’re free to correct me — as a ‘[not] right now.’”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who made a virtual appearance at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition summit with Coons, responded to Coons’s invitation for a correction with a coy dodge.
“I’m afraid that, today, I am not in a position to add to what President Biden said when he was asked the question,” Sullivan said.
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That brief exchange raises the prospect that Ukraine might yet receive Western fighter jets, which could prove effective in the presence of Russian anti-aircraft systems. Coons acknowledged the difficulty of incorporating the advanced warplanes into the Ukrainian military, a consideration he cited to argue for beginning the relevant training in the near term, even if the political decision to provide the weapons has not been taken.
“The training will take a long time,” he said. “I would get going on the training and make the decision about whether and how many and what platforms later.”
Former Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who retired at the end of 2022, agreed with Coons.
“The Ukrainians are simply asking for tools to defend themselves, and the quicker we do that and [do it] at the level at which they need to be able to repel the Russian invasion, is going to save lives,” he said. “President Biden’s crisp ‘no’ is taken by me as meaning we’re not going to provide them, but with all these weapon systems, many other countries have them and are interested in providing them to Ukraine.”
Their public recommendation exemplified a dynamic that Sullivan had praised moments earlier when he saluted Coons and Portman, their co-panelist in the conversation, for their efforts in spurring the administration to arm Ukraine.
“There are not two people honestly in the U.S. Congress who can be counted as better friends of Ukraine and better friends of the principles for which we are fighting here,” Sullivan said, “and who, frankly, at times, have pushed us in the administration to do more and move faster.”
Portman over the last year coordinated with Senate Democrats to prod the White House to send Western artillery and other heavy armored vehicles to Ukraine. That process culminated most recently in Biden’s decision to give U.S.-made Abrams tanks to Ukraine. The delivery of those tanks will not take place for months, at least, but the pledge induced Germany to authorize the more immediate transfer of German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, which hopes to deploy the influx of armor in advance of an expected Russian offensive this spring.
“In the case of F-16s, my understanding is there are some countries that are interested in providing them, but they need approval from us,” Portman said. “These countries are ready to go, so it would be like with the Abrams tanks. … There are countries willing to provide them.”
Sullivan was careful not to foreclose any course of action. “Sen. Coons is also right that we are thinking not just about today’s fight but about the future capacity for Ukraine to defend itself and deter Russian aggression down the road,” he said. “But that’s all at the level of principle. On the specifics of this [F-16 fighter jet] system, in this context, I will just leave it at what the president said, and we’ll continue to do the work that we do and [continue] consulting with the Ukrainians and our allies.”
Biden has taken a methodical approach to providing such heavy weapons, in part from a misgiving that too substantial an influx of Western aid could provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin to retaliate. Yet the fighter jets, according to Coons, will figure into the network of “security guarantees” that Ukraine will need to negotiate a durable end to the war.
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“I am confident that Putin is absolutely determined to try again this spring to go after Kyiv, to go after the majority of Ukraine, and I don’t think he stops until we are able to provide enough security through providing weapons systems that will allow the Ukrainians to defend their homeland against repeated Russian efforts,” Coons said. “Will that ultimately involve advanced fighter jets from some Western source? I think it will.”