2023-05-18 13:52:12
The delivery of new aircraft would constitute a strengthening of Ukraine’s capabilities. In one year, kyiv lost about fifty fighter planes out of the 250 it had. Its fleet, consisting mainly of SU-25s and MIG-29s – of Soviet design – has been reinforced by MIG-29s promised by Slovakia and Poland.
In mid-March, these two neighboring countries pledged to donate combat aircraft to kyiv, a first for NATO countries. Around forty devices were to be supplied, mBut the exact number of planes delivered – around thirty – is not known.
“Given the high cost, it will take a few F-16s, no more“, believes Nicolas Gosset. “The Americans will take care to remove technologies from these F-16s that will not want to see them fall into the wrong hands.“, adds Emmanuel Dupuy.
“Additional fighter jets would allow the Ukrainians to drive Russian occupation troops out of Ukrainian territory, to cover and further secure their troops in the east and south, cover their ammunition…“, enumerates Nicolas Gosset.
For its part, Russia resumed its long-range missile fire at the end of April and has increased its air attacks in recent days, mainly against kyiv. Ukraine says it managed to repel the majority of these attacks.
“The Russians rarely commit their fighter planes“, observe Nicolas Gosset.”They minimize their uses because their planes are vulnerable “.
This will not give a superiority to the Ukrainians
kyiv does not hide its desire to launch a vast counter-offensive in the coming weeks, with the aim of recovering territories. Would the delivery of the fighter jets give the Ukrainians an advantage? Nicolas Gosset does not think so: “This will not give the Ukrainians a superiority, and it is not the delivery of fighter jets that will change the situation in 2023“.
“On the other hand“, notes the researcher, “this delivery definitively anchors all the components of the Ukrainian army in the NATO systems. It is therefore a long-term commitment that must be put into perspective with Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration trajectory. “.
Rishi Sunakreiterated its conviction that the legitimate place of Ukraine is within NATO“, but the idea is far from having consensus.
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