Offensive will take a long time
Ukraine needs up to 300 tanks and 80 F-16 jets
07/19/2023 10:03 p.m
The US announces more military aid to Ukraine. But it’s not what the Ukrainians want most: F-16 jets to seal off their own airspace. And lots of tanks. Selenskyj’s adviser Podoljak explains the need – and why the counter-offensive is lagging.
Ukraine says it needs hundreds of additional armored vehicles and up to 80 F-16 fighter jets for its counter-offensive to recapture Russian-held territory. His country needs “in particular 200 to 300 armored vehicles” and “60 to 80 F-16 fighter jets to seal off the airspace properly,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podoliak told the AFP news agency in an interview.
Podoljak admitted difficulties in the counter-offensive launched last month. These are partly due to the heavily mined territory. There are also logistical problems, including the delivery of weapons. Without a doubt, the offensive will therefore be “quite difficult and lengthy and take a lot of time,” said Podoljak.
The US, meanwhile, announced further military aid for Ukraine in the war against Russia in the amount of 1.3 billion dollars (around 1.2 billion euros). The new armament package includes, among other things, air defense systems, anti-tank missiles, drones and mine clearance equipment, as the US Department of Defense explained.
Kyiv wants military patrols in the Black Sea
In the interview, Podoljak addresses another point that is important for Ukraine: after Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement, Kiev is trying to get a joint military patrol of Black Sea countries like Bulgaria and Turkey under a UN mandate in order to be able to continue grain exports from its ports. said the adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Negotiations on this are already underway “at all levels”.
Since July 2022, the grain agreement had enabled Ukraine to export grain despite the Russian war of aggression across the Black Sea. Russia let the agreement expire on Monday. The Kremlin justified the move by saying that Kiev had misused the grain export corridor for “military purposes”. The Kremlin later announced that it would soon classify ships in the Black Sea as potential opponents.