Air Force: Ukraine needs 4th-generation fighter jets, no time to waste

Ukraine urgently needs fourth-generation modern fighter jets, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on March 29.

Speaking on national television, Ihnat explained that the Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets supplied by Poland and Slovakia were not enough to defend Ukrainian territory on air, land, and sea.

"The (American) F-16 or another multi-role aircraft of the same type will help," Ihnat added.

Recognizing that the transfer of aircraft is a complicated and timely process, Ihnat stressed that such measures needed to be initiated now.

Slovakia transferred four of the 13 MiG-29 it had pledged to Ukraine on March 23. Poland pledged to send 4 MiG-29s to Ukraine "in the coming days" on March 16.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a Senate hearing on March 28 that modern fighter jets would not help Ukraine "at this stage of the war" given that providing them was an 18-month-long process.

However, Austin did not entirely rule out providing F-16s or other fourth-generation aircraft to Ukraine at some point in the future. He also stressed that the current priority for the Ukrainian military was long-range air defense.

Critics argue that allies' reluctance to supply F-16 fighters and long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine will prevent Kyiv from launching a major counteroffensive and liberating Ukrainian territory. Ukraine's lack of advanced aircraft and missiles is also likely to prolong Russia's war of aggression and result in thousands of deaths, many argue.

Ukraine holds back on southern counteroffensive, soldiers say

Zaporizhzhia Oblast – In a split-second, two Ukrainian jets appear over the road, releasing chaff that sets off a couple of Russian anti-aircraft missiles. It allows one of the planes to hit a Russian position that billows with black smoke rising over the trees, leaving no doubt on how close the

Kyiv IndependentAlexander Query