Blinken said that Kyiv will receive F-16 fighters

Ukraine will receive American F-16 fighters, but their delivery will take several months, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in an interview with CNN.

At the summit of the leaders of the G7 countries (USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan), which was held on May 19-21 in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, an agreement was announced to supply fourth-generation American-made F-16 fighter jets to Kiev.

Denmark and the Netherlands will lead a European coalition to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said at the end of May. It is these countries, according to Politico, that can transfer fighter jets to Kyiv. Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak said that deliveries of F-16s could begin before the end of 2023. At the same time, in mid-July, the director of operations of the Pentagon Joint Headquarters, Douglas Sims, said that the delivery of US-made F-16 fighters to Ukraine is now is untimely. He associated this assessment, among other things, with the extensive capabilities in the field of air defense that the Russian Armed Forces possess.

The Russian authorities have stated that the transfer of fighters to Kyiv will not change the situation on the line of contact, but Russia will give a military-technical response if F-16s appear in the sky of Ukraine. On July 13, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow would perceive the transfer of fighter jets as a nuclear threat because the aircraft could be equipped to use nuclear weapons.