After Tanks, Ukraine Now Wants Fighter Jets and Western Long-Range Missiles

Illustration of a Ukrainian fighter jet. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Ukraine is again hoping for weapons assistance from the West, after securing a supply of battle tanks, with fighter jets and long-range missiles said to be desirable weapons.

Ukraine will now push forward with Western fourth-generation fighter jets like the US F-16 after securing supplies of main battle tanks, said an adviser to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense.

It is known that Germany and the United States have announced that they will send their respective main battle tanks (MBT), namely 14 units of Leopard 2 and 31 units of M1 Abrams to Ukraine.

"The next big hurdle now is fighter jets," Yuriy Sak, adviser to Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, told Reuters by telephone.

The Ukrainian Air Force maintains a fleet of aging Soviet-era fighter jets. that came off the assembly line even before Kyiv declared independence more than 31 years ago.

The fighters were used for intercept missions and to attack Russian positions.

"If we get them (Western fighter jets), the advantage on the battlefield will be enormous. Not just F-16s (US multirole fighter jets), fourth generation aircraft, this is what we want," he continued.

Western military support was vital to Kyiv and grew rapidly during the war. Prior to the invasion, the idea of ​​supplying lethal aid to Ukraine was highly controversial. However, Western supplies have since shattered taboo after taboo.

"They didn't want to give us heavy artillery, then they did. They didn't want to give us the HIMARS system, then they did. They didn't want to give us tanks, now they give us tanks. From nuclear weapons, there's nothing left that we won't get it," said Sak.

Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia last February, has also said it wants to receive long-range missiles from the West.

Presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak told the Daily Telegraph: "Today we are seeing a sharp change in sentiment among the political elites of European countries... we will reach, I believe, no doubt, an agreement on long-range missiles."

Podolyak's claim comes hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly urged NATO allies to send missiles and long-range jets to his war-torn country to help repel Russian troops.

"I spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg today... We must also open up long-range missile deliveries to Ukraine, it is important - we must expand our cooperation in artillery. This is a dream. And this is a task," President Zelensky said in speeches at night, as quoted the Daily Mail.

Separately, Justin Bronk, a researcher at the RUSI think tank in London, said the Ukrainian Air Force would greatly benefit from Western warplanes in terms of air-to-air and potentially lethal air-to-ground attacks.

But he said on Twitter they would still be at high risk from Russian surface-to-air missiles, forcing them to fly very low near the front line, something that "would dramatically reduce the missile's effective range and limit attack options".