President Joe Biden is moving closer to allowing Ukraine to have F-16 fighter jets, an about-face after pushing off similar requests earlier this year.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the United States and Europe for months to supply his besieged military with F-16 fighter jets to counter Russian control of the skies over Ukraine. Biden rejected the request earlier this year, saying that the Ukrainian military did not need the fighter jets at that point. U.S. officials have also considered giving Ukraine fighter jets too escalatory in the war with Russia.
Biden seems to have reconsidered his prior stance, saying over the weekend that he had received assurances from Zelensky that, should Ukraine receive F-16s, the jets would not be used over Russian soil. Zelensky promised that the fighter jets would be used “wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine and the area,” Biden said, according to Reuters.
On Friday, Biden said that Ukrainian pilots could train on how to…
