Washington wants to dispel the impression that American support for a fighter jet coalition for Ukraine is a political U-turn. "Nothing has changed," President Joe Biden's National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. The U.S. had never taken American F-16 fighter jets off the table before. Before that, however, there was not the time for it.
Biden had informed the heads of state and government of the G-7 countries on Friday in Hiroshima that the US will support the training of Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter jets, including the F-16. First of all, pilots should be trained. Then it will be decided when and how many aircraft will be delivered and who will provide them. Earlier, Washington rebuffed demands from Kiev for F-16 aircraft for months.
Sullivan said that the decision on arms deliveries to Ukraine had followed the requirements of the war from the very beginning. The U.S. had delivered everything it promised. Now, he said, "we have reached a point where it is time to look to the future" and assess what the Ukrainian armed forces need in the long term to deter and repel Russian aggression. And that's where fighter jets come in.
"The timing is right"
Asked whether the lengthy training of Ukrainian pilots should not have started much earlier, Sullivan said that, according to the US assessment, the F-16s would not be needed on the battlefield now, but only for the long-term deployment of the Ukrainian armed forces. "And so, from our point of view, the timing is right." Sullivan explicitly did not comment on how long the training of Ukrainian pilots will take and when a decision could be made on a specific supply of aircraft to Kyiv.
Asked about a possible potential for escalation in the war, because such aircraft could possibly be used for attacks over Russian territory, Sullivan emphasized that all American arms deliveries to Ukraine are fundamentally subject to the premise that the US does not facilitate or support attacks on Russian soil. So far, Ukraine has clearly adhered to this.
Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are likely to deepen the topic further over the weekend. Zelensky landed in Hiroshima on Saturday, and a bilateral meeting between the two presidents is planned. "It's a sure thing that President Biden will meet him," National Security Adviser Sullivan said Saturday, without specifying at the time of the meeting. "The president looks forward to the opportunity to sit face to face," Sullivan added.
Whether Zelensky will travel to the summit meeting had been unclear until Friday evening. Originally, it was only supposed to be connected via video.