GENICHESK, July 15. /TASS/. Supplies of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, like the previous weapons supplies, will not change the situation, Kherson Region governor Vladimir Saldo told TASS.
"I think that there is nothing special about F-16’s mid other Western weapons supplied to the Kiev regime. These planes are no better than MiG-29 Ukraine is already running out of. They simply try to replenish the Kiev junta’s decreasing fleet by means of American fighter jets. Our soldiers have been destroying all previous types of enemy planes and will continue doing this to F-16s," he said.
According to Saldo, Ukraine now and then announces the use of ‘wonder weapons’ in Donbass. "They were Javelins, Bayraktars, HIMARS, M777, Storm Shadows, Abrams, etc. Our military found effective means against all of those weapons. There was no effect from the use of some of them (for instance, Abrams and M777)," he said.
On July 10, the White House press service issued a joint statement by the leaders of Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States, stating that the Western countries planned to provide Ukraine with squadrons of F-16 fighter jets. Ukrainian pilots will be able to fly the F-16s as early as this summer, as the transfer process for these jets is now underway, the statement said. US National Adviser Jake Sullivan said that these planes would be based in Ukraine but categorically refused to say how many planes would be supplied to Kiev. However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that Ukraine needs at least 128 fighter jets and what had been promised by the West was insufficient.
Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the deliveries of new weapons and equipment, including F-16s, to Ukraine would not reverse the situation on the frontlines, but will result in the protraction of the conflict.