According to RFK Jr., supplying Kiev with fighter jets built in the US will only help the defence sector.
According to Democratic presidential nominee Robert F. Kennedy Junior, the imminent transfer of US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine won’t stop the “collapse” of that nation’s military and would instead just help the military-industrial complex.
The transfer of F-16s to Kiev was a “great decision for the defence industry, but a disaster for Ukraine and humanity,” RFK Jr. said in a thread on social media platform X (previously Twitter), insisting that diplomacy should be used to resolve the Ukrainian issue.
F-16s won’t prevent the impending military fall of Ukraine, according to some experts. Both training and maintenance are very labor-intensive for this aircraft. It was emphasised by Kennedy that this was not a movie.
The presidential candidate has long criticised the ongoing Western aid to Ukraine, which is dominated by Washington, contending that the US should acknowledge its “failure” in the nation and concentrate on domestic concerns instead. Kennedy criticised the delivery of the fighter jets just hours before Denmark and the Netherlands made their public announcement that they were re-exporting older aircraft to Ukraine with Washington’s assistance.
During a Sunday gathering with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at a military airbase in Eindhoven, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the imminent delivery.
Rutte stated at a news conference that the Netherlands and Denmark “can today announce that the Netherlands and Denmark commit to the transfer of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine and the Ukrainian Air Force, including cooperation with the United States and other partners, once the conditions for such a transfer have been met.”
When specific “conditions” are met, the Danish Ministry of Defence would deliver F-16s from its stock to Kiev, according to a statement it made concurrently. The terms “include, but are not limited to, successfully selected, tested and trained Ukrainian F-16 personnel as well as necessary authorizations, infrastructure and logistics,” it stated.
Kiev has long pressed its Western allies for modern aircraft as well as other, more advanced armaments, believing that the aircraft will enable it to change the course of the confrontation with Russia, which has been going on since February 2022. Moscow has frequently pleaded with the West as a whole to halt the weapons shipments, claiming that they would simply make the hostilities go longer rather than affect how they would end.
