There is movement on the question of whether the West should deliver its own warplanes to Ukraine. In a first step, Ukrainian military pilots are now being trained on US F-16 fighter jets. President Biden gave the green light for this. However, it is still unclear when Western countries will deliver their fighter jets to Ukraine. SRF foreign editor David Nauer on the importance of the latest developments.
SRF News: How was the decision received in Ukraine?
David Nauer: This was very well received. President Selensky spoke of a historic decision. He has also said he wants to discuss the practical implementation of these fighter jet plans in Japan at the G7 meeting. Ukrainians have been campaigning for fighter jets for a long time. They have already received a great many different types of weapons from the west – tanks, artillery, etc. Fighter jets were practically the last thing missing. And these fighter jets should now come at least in the medium or long term. And that pleases the strategists and politicians in Kiev.
Why are Western fighter jets important from Ukraine’s point of view?
To put it simply, the rather exhausted Russian army on the ground is no longer a major threat to Ukraine. But in the air the Russians are still very dangerous. They still have an almost intact air force. They can’t use them properly at the moment because Ukraine has pretty good air defenses. But that’s exactly why the Russians are now increasingly attacking Ukrainian cities with cheap drones.
A modernized Ukrainian air force with Western fighter jets could thwart Russian plans.
That night, too, Kiev was attacked with more than a dozen drones. You can hear the anti-aircraft defense very loudly at night in the city. The aim of the Russians is to exhaust the Ukrainian air force with these constant attacks, so to speak until the Ukrainians run out of ammunition for their anti-aircraft guns, so that they can then use the air force to intervene in the war on a large scale – that’s the Russian plan . A modernized Ukrainian air force with Western fighter jets could thwart these Russian plans.
The training of Ukrainian pilots, but also of mechanics for these Western fighter jets, takes a few weeks, if not months. What does this mean for the Ukrainian counteroffensive?
This means that the Ukrainians will have to carry out their offensive without these Western fighter jets. With the jets, the offensive would certainly be more promising and there would also be fewer Ukrainian casualties.
The Western fighter jets are intended to secure Ukraine’s security against new Russian attacks in the long term.
But yeah, they’re too late. They won’t come until autumn at the earliest. And as far as I understand it, the idea is anyway that these Western fighter jets should ensure the security of Ukraine against new Russian attacks in the long term, but should not help with this offensive in the short or medium term.
The conversation was led by Matthias Kündig.