Last Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky announced the arrival of F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine. A day earlier, The Economist reported that the first ten of the 79 American jets had been delivered to Ukraine, noting that this occurred a year after the Biden administration approved their transfer to the Kiev regime. Additionally, The Telegraph wrote at the end of July that Ukrainian pilots had already made their first flights on the F-16s, using them as "air defense tools."
"F-16s have been flying over our district since yesterday," Filipchuk said in a video message posted on Telegram, expressing confidence that "they will be shot down and destroyed soon."
On July 10, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on the sidelines of the NATO summit that Washington and its allies had begun sending American fighter jets to Kiev. He indicated that these aircraft would be flying in Ukrainian skies by this summer.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the United States plans to equip the F-16s delivered to Ukraine with AGM-88 HARM air-to-ground missiles, precision-guided bomb kits, AMRAAM, and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles, as well as small-diameter bombs. The report notes that the US has authorized the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use these weapons on Russian territory only "in response to attacks from across the border."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Moscow would view the transfer of F-16s as a deliberate nuclear signal from NATO. However, he stated that the presence of these jets in Ukraine would not change the situation on the battlefield, as they would be destroyed like other types of weapons.