Following President Joe Biden’s months-long denial of requests for the aircraft from his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the White House announced Friday that the United States and its allies want to give Ukraine F-16 fighter jets and train Ukrainian pilots to fly them.
According to a statement given to VOA by a senior administration official, Biden informed the G-7 leaders on Friday that the US will support an initiative with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, such as F-16s, in order to strengthen and enhance the capabilities of the Ukrainian air force.
The official stated that the training, which will start in the upcoming weeks, will take place at locations across Europe and take months to complete.
During a press conference on Saturday in Hiroshima, Japan, where the G-7 summit is taking place, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, “As the training unfolds, in the coming months, we will work with our allies to determine when the planes will be delivered, who will be delivering them, and how many.”
According to Sullivan, the fighter jets won’t be utilized in a planned counteroffensive against Russia.
Zelenskyy praised Biden’s choice, writing in a tweet that it would “greatly enhance our army in the sky.”
Zelenskyy called the decision to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 jet fighters a “historic decision,” and he said he would go over the specifics with Biden when they met on the sidelines of the G-7 conference on Sunday.
Zelenskyy’s physical presence was confirmed at the G-7 summit as leaders from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the European Union reaffirmed their “commitment to stand together against Russia’s illegal, unjustified, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.”
The organization said in a statement that it would “mobilize all our policy instruments and, together with Ukraine, make every effort to bring a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine as soon as possible,” emphasizing that it cannot be achieved without “the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops.”
Economic pressure from China
Later on Saturday, actions are expected to be revealed in response to what the group refers to as China’s “economic coercion” — the use of punishing trade tactics to pressure nations over political differences.
The steps to strengthen the resilience of our supply networks will be part of these economic security tools. Sullivan stated in the same briefing that they will also contain safeguards for sensitive technology, such as export restrictions and outbound investment restrictions.
According to Sullivan, the communique that will be made public later on Saturday will underline that while each nation has its own distinct relationship and strategy with Beijing, they are all united and aligned behind a set of shared issues. It will demonstrate that the G-7 countries are interested in working with China on issues of shared interest.
He referred to measures to reduce reliance and susceptibility on Beijing as “looking to de-risk not de-couple from China,” and claimed that the G-7 countries are doing so.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to the proposed restrictions on Friday from Beijing. “The G-7 summit might as well first discuss how the United States coerces the other six member states,” he added. “If the issue of economic coercion is something the G-7 summit wants to discuss.”
Belt and Road replacement
The G-7 declaration in Hiroshima reveals a developing consensus among members on how to handle Beijing, starting with the summit of the group in Cornwall, United Kingdom, in 2021, where China was addressed for the first time.
As an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the group in Cornwall adopted a proposal dubbed “Build Back Better World” to aid low- and middle-income nations in developing better infrastructure.
The program was relaunched as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment at the G-7 summit in 2022 in Elmau, Germany.
The G-7 nations hope to raise $600 billion for global infrastructure development by 2027 as part of the new strategy.
