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