Will F-16S Reach Ukraine?

The mother of all the factors is the concern whether sending F-16s to Ukraine would cross a line that Russian President Vladimir Putin might regard as a provocation, to which he might respond by escalating the fight involving tactical nuclear weapons, writes Prakash Nanda

-  Prakash Nanda

While US President Joe Biden’s historic surprise visit to Ukraine on the eve of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of that country and his fresh offer of $460 million of military hardware to boost the country’s defence have raised spirit of the Ukrainians enormously, Kyiv’s request to get F-16 fighter aircraft at the earliest remains pending for Washington’s approval.

The $460 million in aid would include ammunition for US-provided missiles and tank systems, air surveillance radars and “emergency assistance to keep Ukraine’s energy infrastructure up and running in the face of Russia’s relentless missile and drone attacks”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has clarified.

However, the very fact that Biden undertook such a highly risky visit to Ukraine to show solidarity will keep the Ukrainians hopeful that they will eventually get the F-16, sooner rather than later. After all, no US President in recent history has undertaken such a visit to a country where neither the Russians nor the Ukrainians have observed the war rules,- a fact that compelled the US President to go for the hours-long train journey from and to Poland for entering the Ukrainian capital. In fact, to further reduce the risks, Washington had taken the extraordinary step of informing Moscow of Biden’s planned visit ahead of time.