Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 609
GuardianNov 05, 2023
The Facts
Five F-16 fighter jets from the Dutch Airforce landed in Fetesti, Romania on Tuesday for the training of pilots from Ukraine and NATO countries at the soon-to-open European Training Center. Alongside the Netherlands's F-16 donation, Romania's Ministry of Defense said it will provide "the 86th Air Base, training facilities and host nation support" with "Lockheed Martin Company [providing] the instructors and maintenance."
In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he is "grateful to the Netherlands and Prime Minister Mark Rutte for leading the way in supporting Ukraine," adding that he hopes "to welcome F-16s into Ukrainian skies as soon as possible."
The Spin
Pro-Russia narrative
While it seems like Moscow and Kyiv are currently at a stalemate in this war, Russia's dominance in the skies has proven not just by destroying enemy military targets but half of Ukraine's energy sector more generally. If things continue this way, Ukrainians will be facing blackouts as the winter approaches. Ukraine is in rough shape and Western meddling — F-16s and otherwise — won't tip the scales.
Pro-Ukraine narrative
Ukraine's reliance on Western allies is its strength, not a weakness. Allies like the US have so far given Ukraine just enough to keep Russia at bay, which, unfortunately, has given Putin enough leeway to continue meddling in other regions of the world like the Middle East and Asia. If the West dropped all its military aid package conditions — such as Germany's ban on using its weapons to strike Russian soil — Ukraine could defeat Russia once and for all while allowing the West to focus on countering the other global threats posed by the Kremlin.
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