2023-07-14 10:50:51
US Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd said in an exclusive interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer that there are “a number of steps” that must be completed before the F-16 fighters are delivered to Ukraine, noting that “this does not happen in days. It takes days.” months,” he said.
Lloyd noted that it involves “a number of steps as you know. First, you have to train the pilots. The Netherlands and Denmark are leading that effort, and a number of other countries have joined — they’ve joined in that goal. But they’re also looking at — as they do that — we know We have to have the capacity for maintenance – so they also train maintenance experts as well. And then there’s the sustainability aspect and there’s, you know, airport improvements.”
“So there are a number of things that need to happen, and it doesn’t happen in days. It takes months to achieve that capacity. But once more, the Netherlands and Denmark are doing a very trustworthy and fantastic job. They are asking other countries for help, and they will provide that capacity as quickly as possible.” maybe”.
Asked regarding the challenges faced by the Ukrainian military, the US Secretary of Defense responded by saying: “Clearing minefields, Wolf, is one of the biggest challenges they’ve faced by far. And they do — they’ve had a very deliberate process in doing it so they can conserve human resources. Still. “They have a lot of remaining capabilities in terms of available forces. But clearing minefields is their biggest challenge so far.”
As for his assessment of the performance of the Ukrainian counterattack, Lloyd commented: “I’ll let the Ukrainians give their own assessment of how things are going. But once more, keep the pressure on – by the way, we knew from the start this was going to be a very tough fight. You heard me say that, Wolf. I heard General Milley say that. It’s going to be a tough fight.”
“As they clear these minefields, they take a very deliberate approach to this. And once they do that – and they have a lot of forces at their disposal – they can maneuver.”
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