Providing Ukraine with F-16s will deter Russia, not provoke it to escalation - Kuleba

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says that supply of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine will not lead to escalation, as it is not the first weapon Ukraine receives

He made the statement on Twitter.

He emphasized that Ukraine needs the planes to deter Russia.

"Types of weapons that, we were told, would ‘provoke Russia to escalate’ if supplied to Ukraine but never did:

• Artillery
• MLRS
• Air Defense
• Tanks
• Long-range missiles

F-16s will not either. Giving Ukraine F-16s will deter Russia rather than ‘provoke’ it. Time to take this step," he writes.

• Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says that Ukraine's current No. 1 priority is air defense, and that the issue of aviation will be "closed."