Democracies should not withdraw from the historical process of protecting all the values that have shaped our modern world – address by the President of Ukraine

23 February 2024 - 17:33

I wish you health, fellow Ukrainians!

I am now having a working day in Lviv.

First, I met with Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen,
and then I met with U.S. senators – a delegation led by Chuck Schumer.
Good talks and another useful day for Ukraine.

With Mette, we signed a security agreement between Ukraine and Denmark.

This is the fourth such agreement.
We already have agreements with the UK, Germany, and France.
Denmark is the first among countries outside the G7, and the agreement is significant.
As has already become a model, we have a clear statement on defense support for this year – one billion eight hundred million euros.
The agreement will be in effect for ten years, so each year there will be a corresponding amount of cooperation, including defense cooperation.

Of course, there is also a whole range of necessary political and diplomatic clauses in the agreement that set out our fundamental principles.

Increasing pressure on Russia,
maximizing cooperation with Denmark,
supporting our movement to the European Union and NATO – all the things that strengthen us. Mette, thank you again!

We also work together in the field of joint defense production. We discussed specific things today.

Our teams agreed to hold a bilateral defense industries forum and an investment forum. That is, relations are really at a high level.
By the way, we also talked today about the specific timeframe for the appearance of F-16s in the Ukrainian sky, with which Denmark has been very, very helpful.

23 Feb, 2024 16:27

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Ukraine can deploy F-16s to attack deep inside Russia – NATO

Kiev will be able to use the fighter jets outside its claimed borders, the bloc’s head has said

Ukraine will be free to use F-16 fighter jets it will receive from NATO against military targets 'inside Russia,' or beyond Kiev's claimed borders, the US-led bloc's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has told American state-run media.

Stoltenberg was speaking to RFE/RL for an interview scheduled to air on Friday. According to snippets released in advance, the NATO head has argued that Ukraine has the right to self-defense against Russian “aggression,” which would include “striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.”

As to when the government in Kiev might actually receive the promised jets, Stoltenberg would not say. Each NATO member that has pledged to deliver F-16s has different policies and will decide themselves, he explained.
While some of Ukraine’s backers want the jets in action as soon as possible, they will have a stronger impact if the pilots are well-trained and there are enough maintenance and support crews on hand, according to Stoltenberg.
“So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”

Arming Ukraine with F-16s could trigger nuclear war – Medvedev

Ukraine has long demanded the F-16 as a way to combat Russian air superiority.

Denmark and the Netherlands have both pledged to contribute some of their jets, with President Vladimir Zelensky putting the total number at 42.
The first Ukrainian pilots training in the West finished their classes in the UK in December.

The way the US-made jet is designed means it might have difficulties operating from Ukrainian runways, sparking speculation that they could be flown from Poland, Romania or the Baltic states instead.

Russia has repeatedly warned such a deployment would be an escalation of the conflict and may even risk nuclear war, as the F-16 is capable of delivering B61 gravity bombs.

“So, if one of those planes takes off from a NATO nation – what would that be? An attack on Russia. I shall not describe what could happen next,” Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and deputy head of Russia’s National Security Council, said in an interview on Thursday.

At the meeting with the U.S. Senate delegation, I first thanked them for the positive vote on the package of support for our country and our warriors.

This package is not an ordinary one, it is fundamental to our defense both in terms of its content and the signal that support or non-support for this package sends to the world.
Democracies should not withdraw from the historical process – the process of protecting all the values that have shaped our modern world.

I briefed the senators on the current situation on the battlefield – on the direct correlation between the weapons our warriors have and the results achieved by our common enemy.

Sufficiency of artillery, sufficiency of long-range capabilities are key things for us, for our Defense Forces.
And, of course, we are working very actively to deprive Russian aircraft of the ability to dominate the skies near the front this year, as well as on joint defense production projects.
We discussed the relevant priorities with the American delegation.

We are now preparing to continue our extremely active international work in the coming weeks. There will be new agreements that will strengthen our troops, the defense of our cities, and the position of our state.

I thank everyone in the world who helps! I thank everyone who defends us, Ukraine, our people, our principles – absolutely fair principles.
No one in the world has the right to destroy independent nations. No one. And we will not allow Russia to destroy Ukraine.

Thank you, Lviv, for this day!

Glory to Ukraine!