Ukraine receives first F-16 fighter jets to bolster defenses against Russia, a US official tells AP

Ukraine has received the first F-16 fighter jets that it has sought for months to fight back against an onslaught of Russian missile strikes, a U.S. official confirmed to the Associated Press.

Ukraine has been pushing its Western allies for F-16s for Ukraine for months, saying they were critically needed to fight back against the onslaught of missiles Russia has fired against it. The F-16 is specialized in suppressing enemy air defenses. The West has hesitantly moved toward providing the jets, after previous concerns that arming Ukraine with advanced weaponry would further escalate the war with Russia.

The U.S. has also been training Ukrainian pilots on how to fly the jets and has already graduated the first group of pilots on its operation.

During his visit to Washington earlier this month for the NATO summit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed NATO allies to remove all limitations on how Western-provided weapons are used, specifically allowing Ukraine to fire Western-provided weapons against an expanded set of Russian targets.

It’s not clear how many jets were provided in the first tranche or which nations provided them. The Ukrainian government has not confirmed receipt of the jets.

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