How much of a difference will Ukraine’s new F-16s make?
Too few to beat Russia’s air force, but a strong symbolic start
BETTER LATE than never. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has been pleading for F-16 fighter jets. The first ten (of an eventual 79) arrived in Ukraine on the last day of July, a year after the reluctant Biden administration finally gave its more eager European allies the green light to send them. By the end of 2024, Ukraine should be flying 20 of the American-made fighter jets. The rest, promised by the so-called F-16 coalition led by Denmark and the Netherlands, will arrive in batches during 2025.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Late arrival”
Europe August 10th 2024
- Russia’s bloody summer offensive is hurting Ukraine
- How much of a difference will Ukraine’s new F-16s make?
- Ukraine surprises with a high-stakes raid into Russia
- Can anything rouse Germany from its economic slumber?
- Turkey’s president refuses to let sleeping dogs lie
- The siesta is still a serious business in Europe’s south
From the August 10th 2024 edition
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Without it, the country’s remaining steel industry will be crippled
The search for Ukraine’s missing soldiers and sailors
The families of missing loved ones are trying to find them, alive or dead
Europe could become Trump’s geopolitical roadkill
A second dose of MAGA will put the EU in a pickle
Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine
But it is encountering growing problems
Turkey’s long hard struggle with inflation
High interest rates are starting to do the trick
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Matteo Salvini is making feeble excuses