Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov may be lying when he claims that Kyiv will not use F-16 fighter jets for a summer counteroffensive. He will change his position as soon as the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) receive Western aircraft. This was stated in a conversation with Lenta.ru by a military political scientist, associate professor of the political analysis department of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics Alexander Perendzhiev.

“This is a lie. As soon as the fighters appear, they will be used for a counteroffensive. We see the statements of the West that the use of their weapons for aggression on the territory of Russia is prohibited, but this does not prevent anyone from shelling the same Shebekino. So peace-loving statements about the F-16 are relevant only as long as these fighters are not there, ”Perendzhiev is sure.

Military expert, combat veteran, captain of the first rank of the reserve Vasily Dandykin added that fighters can be used as carriers of cruise missiles for attacks on the Crimea and other territories.

Now Su-24s are used for this purpose, but there are few of them left, they are partially disabled. Of course, the F-16s are light fighters, they are inferior to ours in many ways, but they have a good electronic filling, they are the most massive. So they can be used for such tasks.

Vasily Dandykinmilitary expert

He also clarified that the West may not have time to supply F-16s for the summer counteroffensive. Dandykin suggested that fighters would be needed in the event of prolonged hostilities.

“F-16s are needed for the long game. Ukraine was given tanks, artillery, something has already been destroyed. Now, as we know, fierce battles are going on in the Zaporozhye direction, they are hitting the borders, sparing no shells. It can be said that the counteroffensive has already begun. But, I think that as part of this counteroffensive, fighters may not have time to deliver, ”the interlocutor of Lenta.ru admitted.

Dandykin concluded that the Armed Forces of Ukraine still had their own aviation, helicopters, and planes. The main task of Russia today is to destroy this and other equipment and survive.

Earlier, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, Mark Milley, said that American Abrams tanks and F-16 fighters do not use the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the counteroffensive.