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In a Sharp Reversal, Biden Opens a Path for Ukraine to Get Fighter Jets

President Biden said on Friday that U.S. allies would allow Ukrainian pilots to train in U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, according to multiple U.S. officials. He added that he was prepared to donate. Ukrainian military upgrades and sharp reversals.

Kiev officials have been begging for state-of-the-art fighter jets to overcome Russia’s air superiority since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 15 months ago. But Mr Biden resists, fearing the planes could be used to hit targets deep in Russia and the Kremlin could escalate the conflict. Pentagon officials say other weapons, especially air defense weapons, are more urgently needed and the F-16’s high cost could weigh on other weapons.

But several European countries that are members of the NATO alliance and have F-16s are calling for international efforts to provide training and relocation of their fighters to Ukraine. Since the weapons were originally sold to them by the United States, they would need US permission to do so. While not America’s most advanced fighter jet, the F-16 has powerful radar that can spot targets hundreds of miles away, along with the latest missiles and other technology that U.S. officials don’t want duplicated or falling into enemy hands. Installed.

At a summit in Hiroshima, Biden told other leaders of the G7, the world’s richest democracies, of his decision to train pilots to Ukraine, according to officials who made the request. said it paved the way for a fighter jet supply. Anonymity allows us to speak openly about sensitive discussions.

They said the United States and its allies would discuss how to supply jets to Kiev on their own in the coming months, with a senior administration official saying the White House was ready to approve the move. At least under current plans, the US is not expected to send its own F-16s.

“We welcome the historic decision of the United States and its president to support the International Fighter Union. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Twitter.

of Joint statementAllied leaders said they were committed to “continuing security assistance to Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression and tailoring assistance to Ukraine’s needs.” The group pledged to “provide Ukraine with the financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic assistance it needs, as long as it is needed.”

Earlier on Friday, Zelensky addressed the Arab League summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he challenged the neutral stance taken by many Arab countries on the war, calling Ukrainians “out of the cages of Russian prisons.” “I asked for your cooperation to save me.

“Unfortunately, there are people in the world and here among you who turn a blind eye to these cages and illegal annexations,” he said. “I’m here so that everyone can have an honest look at whatever influence the Russians are trying to exert.”

Western officials say Mr Zelensky is due to travel to Hiroshima this weekend to attend the summit. But Ukrainian officials’ accounts are contradictory, with some saying he will appear in person and others saying he will speak to leaders via video link. The ambiguity likely reflects security concerns as Zelensky travels around the world seeking aid and weapons. He visited several European countries last week and was in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

Ukraine is expected to launch a major counterattack soon, aiming to recapture more territory than Russia seized early in the war. Delivery of the fighter is months away, too late to affect its plans.

G7 leaders in Hiroshima spent most of the day discussing the coming counterattack and the possibility of bringing Russia to the negotiating table to discuss some form of truce that would stop the fighting, even if it didn’t solve the core issues. . war.

They are also poised to announce a slew of new sanctions and export controls to further tighten the Kremlin’s war-financing capacity and to crack down on third countries secretly supplying Russia with usable banned technology. weapon system.

While Russian President Vladimir V. Putin appears to be betting that interest and commitment to Ukraine will wane, the allies seem determined to show a united determination to help Ukraine.

Biden’s shift in attitude toward the F-16 is the latest move he has made to allow Ukraine to deploy advanced weapons such as the HIMARS rocket launcher, the Patriot air defense missile system and the Abrams tank. In each case the president initially refused, but changed his mind under pressure from European allies.

Senior Pentagon officials have consistently said they do not believe Ukraine needs the F-16 at this stage of the conflict.

Celeste A. Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told the House Armed Services Committee last month that the Western state-of-the-art fighter jet was only “around eighth” on Ukraine’s priority list. He said officials are focusing on resources with “the highest priority capabilities: air defense, artillery and armor.”

But Ukraine and its supporters’ push for the F-16 in Congress has intensified this week. Yahoo News reported An internal U.S. Air Force assessment concluded that training a Ukrainian pilot to operate a fighter jet would take just four months, far shorter than previously cited by Pentagon officials.

The document, which was confirmed by senior Air Force officials and said it was shared with several NATO allies that fly the F-16, includes detailed assessments conducted in late February and early March at Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona. was included. The F-16 received “no formal training” other than a short familiarization, followed by several hours of flight simulator testing, according to the assessment.

Mr Zelensky’s attendance at the G7 would be a strong backlash against Mr Putin and a reminder of just how thoroughly relations with Russia have soured. Thirty years ago, President Clinton promised to seek the lifting of Cold War sanctions and met with then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Japan to envision Russia’s integration into the world economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Five years later Russia joins Group 8.

Everything has now been reversed. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, it was suspended from the group, and three years later it left altogether. The Russian economy has struggled under sanctions imposed since last year’s invasion, especially caps on oil sales prices, and more sanctions are likely to follow.

The UK announced on Friday that enforce the ban About Russian diamonds, copper, aluminum and nickel.Australia too Said On Friday, it imposed new financial sanctions targeting 21 entities and three individuals, including Russia’s largest gold company, oil and steel companies and defense firms.

The United States also deployed “”.complete package‘ includes restrictions such as banning an additional 70 companies from U.S. exports and adding more than 200 individuals and entities to sanctions lists. The measures are aimed at cracking down on individuals and companies that help Russia evade existing sanctions.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in a statement on Friday that the new sanctions would “further clamp down on President Putin’s ability to carry out barbaric aggression and strengthen global efforts to thwart Russia’s attempts to evade sanctions.” It will move forward,” he said.

As the United States plans to extend sanctions to target more sectors of the Russian economy and attack the means of obtaining semiconductors and other high-tech products from G7 countries, U.S. officials said on Friday that Russia’s weapons-making capacity could be threatened. He said these were extremely important. In a release, Secretary of State Anthony J. Brinken said the new sanctions would target components needed to build the drones Russia currently has in Ukraine.

The new penalties also aim to squeeze Russia’s oil and gas drilling capacity and squeeze venture capitalists and financial services firms that U.S. officials say are backing sanctioned Russian companies.

Goods that Western companies are now prohibited from selling to Russian buyers often reach them through intermediaries, repeatedly changing intermediaries, jurisdictions and free trade zones. This trade is difficult to track and hard to police, especially for “dual-use” goods that have both civilian and military uses.

While many of Russia’s other sources of income have been weighed down by previous sanctions, officials still look to diamonds as a lucrative deal to finance Russia’s war. Russia is the world’s largest supplier of small diamonds, exporting more than $4.5 billion in 2021, making the gem the top non-energy export by value.

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