The US President expressed his “support for a joint initiative to train Ukrainian pilots in fourth-generation fighter jets, including the F-16,” to G7 leaders, a senior White House official said Friday.
“While training is underway, in the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this initiative will decide when to deliver aircraft, how many and who will deliver them,” he added, giving the most favorable signal before this Friday with the United States to send these devices persistently requested Kiev .
Shortly before this, two close sources, cited by the American news agency Associated Press (AP) under the guise of anonymity, reported that Joe Biden, in private conversations with allies in the G7 (the group of the world’s most industrialized countries), announced that it includes, in addition to the United States, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the UK, as well as the EU representation), agrees with the training of Ukrainian pilots, which should take place in Europe, in the coming months.
The announcement was made during a meeting of G7 leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, where member states discussed how to step up aid to Kiev against Russian aggression and also announced new sanctions against Moscow in front of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. join them on sunday.
Zelenskiy has repeatedly called for Western fighter jets to bolster his country’s defenses against Russia’s nearly 15-month war of aggression on its soil, but has so far faced silence from the United States.
Under US export regulations, Washington will have to approve any allied initiative to train Ukrainian pilots.
In recent weeks, European allies have begun to embrace the idea of sending fighter jets to Ukraine, as have members of the Biden government, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who has presented himself as a staunch supporter of the plan.
The military offensive launched by Russia on February 24, 2022 in Ukraine has so far caused the flight of more than 14.7 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.2 million to European countries – from, according to the latest UN data , which classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
At least 18 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community as a whole, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN has presented as confirmed since the start of the war, which entered its 450th day this Friday, 8,836 civilians killed and 14,985 wounded, stressing that these numbers are much lower than the real ones.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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