At the start of the three-day annual Munich Security Conference, a group of approximately 50 US congressmen participated to express broad support for US assistance to Ukraine. Hundreds of politicians, military personnel, and diplomats from around the world attended the event, along with four delegations of Democratic and Republican leaders and members of the Senate and House.
According to American officials, the U.S. delegation there is one of the biggest since the conference’s inception in 1963. The European Union and NATO have been strengthened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and it has brought US congressional members together.
After meeting with conservative German politicians, Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the Democratic-controlled Senate, told Reuters, “We are here to send a clear message to this conference and everyone around the world: the U.S. is on a bipartisan basis totally behind the effort to help Ukraine.”
President Joe Biden is being pressed directly by a group of politicians from both parties to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. In a letter to Biden on Thursday that Politico was able to get, five House members stated that contemporary jets, which Kyiv has requested but which the administration has not yet approved, “may be critical for control of Ukrainian airspace this year.”
The MPs argued that the provision of such aircraft was important to assist Ukraine in defending its airspace, particularly in light of recent Russian offensives and in view of the anticipated rise in large-scale combat activities.
Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine, wrote the letter. Republicans Tony Gonzales of Texas and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, as well as Democrats Jason Crow of Colorado and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, joined the campaign.
According to the MPs, Ukrainian troops would be better equipped than those of other countries including the United States with ground-based artillery if they had access to an F-16 produced by Lockheed Martin or something like.
Colonel Yuriy Ignat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, told Myroslava Gongadze of VOA that “To give the Ukrainian army’s troops an advantage in the air and on the ground, contemporary multipurpose fighter jets are urgently needed.
“The F-16 is the most likely option for the progressive rearmament of the air force of Ukraine to this type of fighter, given that it is one of the most popular multirole aircraft in the world and can engage both ground and air targets with a wide range of armaments, “added he.
Ignat stated that because of their capacity to successfully destroy adversary cruise missiles and Iranian attack drones, these aircraft would be included into Ukraine’s air defence system.
He stated, “We have dozens of pilots with the required degree of training and English language proficiency.”
Bakhmut attack
As they struggle to repel a Russian onslaught on the little eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukrainian soldiers are begging with their commanders for more weapons. According to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, nine people were injured and three men and two women were killed when Russian rockets and artillery shelled a residential area of the city on Thursday. The incident is being looked into as a possible war crime.
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The invasion has been going on for almost a year, and President Vladimir Putin’s forces are stepping up their eastward assaults. All of the city’s remaining residents have been asked to escape as fierce conflict is anticipated to continue.
Bakhmut, which originally had 70,000 residents, has been the target of Russian troops’ attempts to capture for months, and the city is practically always being shelled.
Iryna Vereshchuk, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, said, “If you are rational, law-abiding, and patriotic citizens, you should leave the city immediately.” To the estimated 6,000 people who are still living in the city, which is located in the Donetsk area, she issued the appeal via the Telegram messaging service on Friday.
Vereshchuk claimed that individuals who stay would not only put themselves and their families in risk, but also make it harder for volunteers and members of the armed forces to assist them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged partners to expedite weapon supply to Ukraine in anticipation of an anticipated spring Russian onslaught while delivering remarks via video link at the start of the three-day Munich Security Conference.
After committing to ship its Leopard 2 vehicles, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged NATO allies to expedite tank deliveries to Kiev. Scholz’s own administration has come under fire for the poor pace of arms sales to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon declared that the first contingent of Ukrainian soldiers receiving US training in Germany had finished its course of study, opening the door for a second force to start receiving instruction.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin travelled to the sizable, hilly training area in Grafenwoehr, Germany.
According to Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder, Secretary Austin was “impressed with the sense of urgency and progress that’s been made to far to fast and efficiently implement the training programme and the high motivation of U.S. trainers and Ukrainian soldiers involved.”
According to him, the second group of Ukrainians has roughly 710 people, while the departing group has about 635.
Austin was briefed about the various training programmes, spoke with U.S. and Ukrainian soldiers, and watched training on M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, M109 Paladin artillery, and combat medical capabilities during a visit that was interspersed with M-16 rifle fire.
Since the end of World War II, the American military has conducted training exercises in Grafenwoehr.
The Russian Defense Ministry and its private contractor have likely suffered 175,000 to 200,000 casualties since the beginning of the invasion, with about 40,000 to 60,000 killed, representing “a high ratio of personnel killed,” the British Defense Ministry claimed in its daily intelligence update on Ukraine.
The bulletin also stated that the casualty rate for the Wagner Group’s recruits who are prisoners “probably experienced a casualty rate of up to 50%.”
According to Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian businessman and Putin rival, the war will probably go for as long as Putin is in charge, according to Defense Weekly.
He claimed that Russia is deeply divided and that there is little “active support” for the war in Ukraine.
Khodorkovsky led the Yukos Oil firm and is presently based in London. He was found guilty of embezzlement in Russia and sentenced to seven years in a prison camp.
