Basic answer to Ukraine's request for weapons should be "yes" – US pilot

This was stated by Peter Greenberg, an American military pilot, volunteer and military instructor, on Espreso.

"Ukraine is a large European country, and you are surrounded by enemy forces on three sides. Even in eastern Moldova. The Black Sea, the east, the southeast and Belarus to the north. I mean, this is an extremely difficult defense problem. The fact that we can sit here and discuss this on the 500th day of a large-scale invasion is precisely the capabilities that the Ukrainian military has shown. Such a list (of weapons needs - ed.) is definitely out there somewhere, and only the General Staff can tell you that," he said.

Greenberg added that in order to know this, a lot of information needs to be taken into account, not only information about the enemy's capabilities and numbers, but also what are the Ukrainian capabilities in terms of the location and use of various systems.

"On the other hand, we hear a lot that we need airports, infrastructure, and so on, but we should remember that Western aircraft have already been in Ukraine. In peacetime, military exercises were held in 2011 and 2009. Back then, F-16s and F-15s were here and operated from Ukrainian air bases," the pilot said.

He believes that this is a very complex issue.

"If I could advise the president, as a simple guy, an ordinary citizen, I would say that the generals should send Ukrainians everything they ask for. If Ukraine, the Ukrainian government, asks for something, the basic answer should be 'yes', and then investigate whether there are any reasons to refuse. I don't know all the decisions that are made, but in February 2022, I thought: "They're going to need F-16s, and I'm ready to go". It took a little bit of time to come to fruition. I could say 100 aircraft and so on, but I would also say that it takes a lot to get an aircraft in the air, you need support, you need a lot of equipment. It's right to make sure that there are landing sites and locations for these systems before they come to Ukraine, but I'm also disappointed, as many Ukrainians are, that it's taken this long to get the really best weapons to defend their country," Greenberg concluded.