Western-provided F-16 fighter jets could already be in Ukraine, Newsweek has been told, after Kyiv claimed a host of high-profile victories against Russian assets in the air and in the sea.
Kyiv had clamored for the jets, which would boost Ukraine’s ability to contest Russia’s dominance in the skies and launch more strikes on key Russian targets.
On December 5, the Ukrainian military said it had shot down a Russian jet around Snake Island, a Black Sea outpost around 30 miles from Ukraine’s coastline close to Romania.
Russian-aligned or anti-Ukrainian Telegram channels have since speculated that an F-16 was used to fire the cruise missiles at the Russian vessel, and what threat the jets in Ukraine’s hands could pose to the Kremlin.
“I hope the West has learned NOT to announce new weapons systems, as was done for the most part for the first 20 months of the war,” said Daniel Rice, former special adviser to Ukraine’s lead commander, General Valery Zaluzhny.
On December 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Dutch government was starting preparations to deliver an initial batch of 18 F-16 jets for delivery to Ukraine.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
Western-provided F-16 fighter jets could already be in Ukraine, Newsweek has been told, after Kyiv claimed a host of high-profile victories against Russian assets in the air and in the sea.
Kyiv had clamored for the jets, which would boost Ukraine’s ability to contest Russia’s dominance in the skies and launch more strikes on key Russian targets.
On December 5, the Ukrainian military said it had shot down a Russian jet around Snake Island, a Black Sea outpost around 30 miles from Ukraine’s coastline close to Romania.
Russian-aligned or anti-Ukrainian Telegram channels have since speculated that an F-16 was used to fire the cruise missiles at the Russian vessel, and what threat the jets in Ukraine’s hands could pose to the Kremlin.
“I hope the West has learned NOT to announce new weapons systems, as was done for the most part for the first 20 months of the war,” said Daniel Rice, former special adviser to Ukraine’s lead commander, General Valery Zaluzhny.
On December 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Dutch government was starting preparations to deliver an initial batch of 18 F-16 jets for delivery to Ukraine.
The original article contains 692 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 73%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!