The Biden administration supplied as many weapons to Kiev as possible, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has claimed
The US did everything it could to provide Kiev with advanced weapon systems, including F-16 fighter jets, but the Ukrainian military did not have enough pilots who could be trained to operate more of them, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has claimed.
Speaking on Sunday at the 2024 Reagan National Defense Forum, the senior official rejected accusations that the military assistance sent to Kiev by the administration of President Joe Biden was “too little too late.” On the contrary, Ukraine received as many weapons as possible thanks to the US, he said.
”When it comes to F-16s, President Biden authorized the sending of F-16s to Ukraine last May,” Sullivan noted. “It’s now December of 2024, and we’ve had a limited number of pilots train not because we’re not prepared to train them – we are, as many as possible – but because the Ukrainians do not have the pilots to be able to build a full F-16 capability in time.”
European NATO members have been donating the US-made jets to Kiev with Washington’s blessing, with around a total of 60 pledged by several nations. The latest batch from Denmark arrived last week, according to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky.
Some supporters of the Ukrainian cause touted the capability as a “game changer.” At least one F-16 was lost in the very first combat deployment in late August, which Ukrainian officials blamed on pilot error.
Ukrainian pilots received F-16 training in the US, Denmark, and Romania. The fatal incident reportedly made some US officials question Kiev’s rush to put the jets into use. The program for Ukrainians is limited in scope compared to what foreign buyers normally receive, due to the wartime circumstances, the Wall Street Journal said in September.
Some officials in Kiev previously expressed frustration with what they claimed to be excuses by the US for not enrolling more pilots in the training program. The head of the arms procurement commission in Kiev’s parliament, Aleksandra Ustinova, claimed in June that Washington was throttling the teaching pipeline for political reasons.
Moscow maintains that no amount of Western weaponry can alter the eventual outcome of the Ukraine conflict. The US and its allies are fighting a proxy war against Russia, using Ukrainians as cannon fodder, Russian officials have argued.
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