F‑16s land in Ukraine: West defies Russia, sparks tensions

"F-16s in Ukraine. Another impossible thing turned out to be totally possible," confirmed Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on platform X on Wednesday evening. Thus, Vladimir Putin's nightmare came true. Russia had repeatedly warned that delivering these aircraft would only exacerbate the situation.

American-made F-16 multi-role fighter jets, which are intended to neutralize Russia's air superiority and support Ukrainian forces in repelling attacks on cities, are already in Ukraine. This was confirmed Wednesday evening by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on platform X. Earlier, Bloomberg reported on the delivery of the fighter jets

"F-16s in Ukraine. Another impossible thing turned out to be totally possible," wrote Landsbergis.

Bloomberg, citing its own sources wishing to remain anonymous, reported that Ukraine received its first F-16s. The number of delivered aircraft is small, it was reported.

Ukrainians have been waiting for these machines for months, and the F-16s are seen as the greatest hope for breaking through the Russian front.

According to previous agreements, Ukraine was supposed to receive its first F-16s in the summer months. Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium planned to deliver over 60 such machines to Ukraine.

On the sidelines of the NATO summit held in mid-July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "those jets will be flying in the skies of Ukraine this summer to make sure that Ukraine can continue to effectively defend itself against Russian aggression."

The Kremlin immediately reacted to these words at the time. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that the delivery of the aircraft "is evidence that Washington is leading a war gang."

On the same day, the head of the State Duma Defense Committee, Gen. Andrey Kartapolov, said that the fighter jets will not change the course of the "special military operation." In an interview with the propaganda outlet RIA Novosti, he stated, "The delivery of F-16s to Ukraine will not affect the course of the special operation in any way and will change nothing. Russia is ready for this."

The Russians attempted to pressure Western countries not to deliver these machines to Ukraine. As recently as August 2023, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, threatened that the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine would be the "last Europe's" days.