Before he left Copenhagen yesterday, Ukrainian President Voloymyr Zelenskyy declared, “Today we are confident that Russia will lose this war,” as a result of the promises by both Denmark and Netherlands to provide F-16s to Ukraine.
The Russians, however, are warning that nothing of the kind will result. Russian Ambassador to Copenhagen Vladimir Barbin yesterday asserted that the supply of F-16s to Ukraine will only escalate the conflict. “Under the pretext that Ukraine itself should determine the terms of peace, Denmark, by its actions and words, is trying to leave Ukraine no choice but to continue the military confrontation with Russia,” he said in a statement reported by TASS. “This position pushes Ukraine into the abyss and condemns its people to new sacrifices. There will be no other result from Denmark’s decision to transfer the F-16 jets to Ukraine.”
Alexander Mikhailov, head of the Military-Political Analysis Bureau, a think tank in Moscow, told TASS that the Dutch and Danish decisions on supplying F-16s are merely a political move to placate the Ukrainian side that will have no effect on the course of the special military operation. “We are talking about several dozen fighter jets. Moreover, they were made in the 1980s. The fighter jets are nearly 30 years old, and are to be written off from the Danish and Dutch armies, as they have exhausted their aviation service [both countries are in the process of upgrading to F-35 stealth fighters—ed.]. And although it is still possible to put them in the air and even try to conduct some air battles with them or use them for air strikes, they are not the kind of military armada that can change the situation in the airspace of the special military operation zone anyway,” the expert stressed.
