Zelensky Demands F-16s be Given to Him Before US Election

This is retarded.

If Donald Trump were to win and cancel the Ukraine war, it wouldn’t matter if they had a dozen F-16s. That doesn’t even make sense.

RT:

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is scrambling to complete the agreement for delivery of F-16 fighter jets to his country as soon as possible, fearing that shifting political sands in Western countries could undermine the campaign to support Kiev in its fight with Moscow, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

According to serving and former US and Ukrainian officials interviewed by the paper, Kiev “senses a ticking political clock” as it continues to ask its partners for US-designed F-16 aircraft. Zelensky apparently wants to get as many jets as possible before elections in the EU and the US “could bring a change of heart in the governments that have promised the planes,” the report said.

The international coalition to help Kiev procure F-16s and train Ukrainian pilots was first announced by the UK and the Netherlands in May, with a total of 11 countries backing the effort. However, Ukraine does not expect to receive the first of the promised warplanes until 2024.

While the administration of US President Joe Biden has signaled that it would allow Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands to send their F-16s to Ukraine, a new president could reverse this policy if the delivery has not yet been completed by the time they come to power, an unnamed American official told the paper.

Another former US official suggested that Zelensky also wanted to secure the deliveries in case “a sluggish counteroffensive erodes political support among allies.” Ukraine has been unsuccessfully trying to breach Russian lines since early June, losing more than 43,000 service members, according to Moscow.

If Trump canceled the funding, the Ukrainian state would collapse, internally. It does not have money to pay anyone in the government, and the US is increasingly supporting private companies through various subsidies.

If, in some universe, Trump won, he’s going to do a peace deal and surrender captured territories to Moscow.

The Ukraine is going to have to go along with that, or their funding will be cut, and the state will collapse.

The F-16s aren’t going to do anything regardless. I mean, Russia has hundreds of equivalent jets. This is like the Leopards or whatever other thing the Ukrainians demanded. None of it has done anything.