Final bidding is coming for F-16 supply to Ukraine – military expert Kyrychevskyi

He said this on Espreso TV. 

“There was information that the deadline for a decision on F-16s for Ukraine was set for the summer, as emphasized by the head of the Danish defense ministry, which is actually supposed to be transferring these aircraft. Judging from all this, a certain stage of bargaining is now taking place, in which it is very reasonable for Ukraine to insist that, firstly, we need F-16s, and secondly, to conduct the case as if this decision had already been made,” he said.

“While a month ago Western analysts were writing all sorts of nonsense about how we are in such a mess here and won't have anywhere to land these F-16s, now the matter has reached the level of bidding. In other words, there is agreement that Ukraine needs F-16s, but there are not enough aircraft of this type available, so it may be worthwhile to get F-18s from Australia. Or, while Ukraine is waiting for the F-16s to arrive, it is possible to take improved MiG-29M2s from Egypt. In short, if a month ago there was a categorical rejection of the F-16, now the case has reached the stage of final bidding, in which Ukraine has every chance to gain favorable positions,” the military expert commented. 

Ivan Kyrychevskyi noted that the active position of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister shows that we may hear a positive decision by the end of May. Every day is important to us, so the sooner we can speed up this decision, the better.

“I do not rule out that the issue of the same F-16s, at least second-hand ones from European countries, could have been discussed on Friday, April 21, at the Ramstein 11 meeting. And given the way the MiG-29s were organized from Slovakia and Poland, it is quite possible that we will learn about the decision on the F-16s after the fact with the first news about the transfer of these aircraft to Ukraine,” Kyrychevskyi said.

• On April 21, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin held talks before a meeting of the Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base.