Ukrainian bases that were set to accommodate F-16s from the West have been destroyed by Russia with hypersonic missiles and drones.
RT:
Russian forces have struck Ukrainian airbases that were set to house Western-supplied fighter jets, including US-designed F-16s, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported.
The Russian military launched a group strike on Thursday morning, employing long-range sea-based weapons, the Kinzhal hypersonic missile, and unmanned aerial vehicles to attack the “airfield infrastructure of Ukraine, planned to accommodate aircraft from Western countries,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The goal of the strike has been achieved. All designated targets have been hit,” it added, without specifying the number or location of the airfields that were struck.
The report comes as Kiev’s Western backers, including the US, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands, have pledged to provide Ukraine with as many as 60 F-16s by the end of the year. However, none of the jets have yet been supplied.
Deliveries have apparently been held up because Ukrainian pilots are still only learning to operate the jets. Once they have completed their training by the end of the year, there will still only be a “handful” of pilots, according to recent media reports, which have also noted that Ukraine doesn’t have enough maintenance crews to service the jets.
The whole premise of giving the Ukrainians F-16s was always stupid. You can’t just manifest trained pilots out of the ether to fly these things let alone operate them competently.
Now that there’s no place to host these F-16s in the Ukraine, I’d like to hear what the grand strategy is now. Are they just going to fly F-16s to attack Russia out of NATO countries now?
