“We don’t have planes and it’s a scandal. Why, after a year of war, The Ukrainian Air Force has only one Blackhawk helicopter?” Timofy MylovanovGovernment economist adviser Zelensky and the head of the Kiev School of Economics (KSE) begins with this curse a petition he formulated on social networks this weekend. announced the opening international crowdfunding Raising funds that Ukraine can buy Western-made F16 fighter jets and attack helicopters, because the country’s Soviet and post-Soviet air assets do not have the capacity to surpass Russian aircraft.
Despite the announcements by Eastern European governments such as Poland and Slovakia that Mig29 aircraft will be delivered soon, another position of the Ukrainian government is calling for fighters. The Minister of Defense of Ukraine himself, Oleksiy ReznikovOn her last visit to Madrid, she insisted on the mantra of F16 – or fourth-generation fighters – causing her stewardess to minister. Daisy Robles, Repeat that Spain “cannot give what it does not have”. In fact, Reznikov was repeating his message by suggesting the formation of an air coalition, as Spain helped build around the Leopard main battle tanks.
Timofy Mylovanov Minister of Economy of Ukraine From 2019 to 2020 and in addition to administering KSE, he teaches at the University of Pittsburgh, North America. It is not the first private procurement organized to arm the Ukrainian army. In fact, over the past year, fundraising events, large and small, have been proliferating in various countries and are sometimes supported by Ukrainian residents and refugees, such as the case recently held in Spain to buy a Turkish attack plane.
save life
“Why does the United States or other countries refuse to provide equipment to the air force? stop this warIf you have the right weapons, you can win,” Mylovanov tells his followers. The need for fighters, he says, is as urgent as the need for helicopters. because Ukraine, which fails to do so, is forced to make a war effort based on “human life”.
“Why does Ukraine need an air force? Because it saves lives by evacuating gasping soldiers: versus a day’s jeep drive with a 15-minute flight to the hospital,” Mylovanov says. According to him, with enough helicopters, his army “can deploy special operations faster and in better conditions: 20 minutes of flight and six seconds of deployment ahead.” 20 mile walk in full gear”.
Zelensky’s adviser wants planes that can outperform Russian Mig 31s and helicopters that can do night raids. Part of the logic of the NATO military is in their favor in Ukraine’s demands. Within the Spanish military itself, unofficial sources tell this newspaper they believe it is “risky” to supply Leopard tanks without an air superiority structure.
The Western approach to ideally deploying the leopards in Donbass or Zaporia is a barrage of artillery fire ahead and helicopters with rear anti-tank missiles; in addition, with guaranteed air superiority, which prevents the tanks from being unprotected from above. But this is what the army drew; politicians deal with other variables.
ex-military lawmakers
So far, the Russian air force has been severely restrained on the Ukrainian battlefield. Western contributions of missiles and anti-aircraft defense batteries, Among them are the Spanish Hawk missiles. The US administration – being very careful not to escalate the conflict excessively – has repeatedly refused to release its F16 fighters to Ukraine. Joe Biden did not close this possibility for the future.
However, lobbying efforts are being made in the US Congress on this issue. The most direct link to North American demands is embodied by a former Marine who is also a congressman from Maine. called Jared Golden and leads a group of 16 Republican and Democrat U.S. lawmakers -among them ex-military Texan of the US Navy Tony Gonzales andl Californian former Naval Intelligence officer Jimmy Panetta, and ex-Marine from Wisconsin Mike Gallagher– requires his government to “provide F16 fighter jets”, taking into account “an expected increase in large-scale combat operations”.
According to a document signed by this group in Congress on February 28, F16 fighters borrowed from the United States ” to encourage our allies NATO and European partners will provide Kiev with comparable fourth-generation aircraft.”