Supplying Ukraine with F-16 Fighters Will Deter Russia, Not Provoke It – Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister

Thursday, 27 April 2023

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, stated that it is high time that Ukraine’s Western partners cast their fears about "provoking Russia" aside and supply Ukraine with the F-16 fighter jets.

Specifically, Kuleba listed the types of armament, which, as the West claimed in the beginning, were going to "provoke Russia to escalate the war" if they were sent to Ukraine: artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, air defence systems, tanks, long-range missiles.

However, it did not lead to escalation.

"F-16s will not [cause it] either. Giving Ukraine F-16s will deter Russia rather than ‘provoke’ it. Time to take this step," Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

Gitanas Nausėda, President of Lithuania, believes that the allies of Ukraine must provide it with all necessary military aid, including armament.

To the question whether he was talking about the supply of Western fighter jets to Ukraine as well, he replied in the affirmative.

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