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F-16 fighter jets are expected to be on the battlefield in Ukraine by this summer, a Dutch air force commander has said.
Gen Arnoud Stallmann, speaking in front of two disused F-16s in a military hangar in the Netherlands, said that after a series of delays, everything was “lining up” to see the US-made jets in Kyiv’s hands by this summer.
The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway have pledged around 80 F-16s to Ukraine between them. Kyiv has long called for the fighter jets, seeing them as vital to countering threats such as Russia’s recent use of deadly glide bombs, capable of levelling whole buildings.
It comes as Russian leader Vladimir Putin has arrived in Vietnam on the second-leg of his overseas tour, having visited North Korea yesterday.
Putin is scheduled to meet Vietnam’s most powerful politician, the communist party’s general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the new president To Lam and other officials, in the capital of Hanoi later today.
The Russian president’s last visit to Vietnam was in 2017. The pair have had diplomatic relations since 1950.
Zelensky lists measures to preserve Ukraine’s energy system
Volodymyr Zelensky announced a set of measures to protect Ukraine’s energy system, including protection for plants coming under Russian fire and the development of alternative renewable energy sources.
“Life in Ukraine must be preserved and that includes in particular energy security,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly video address.
Mr Zelensky outlined plans to minimise the effects of such attacks, including a programme of developing solar energy and energy storage facilities and a schedule for critical infrastructure sites to come up with alternative energy sources.
The work, he said, must be completed before winter and the increased energy demand associated with the change in seasons.
Mr Zelensky said the government would “continue to work on creating new energy generation and new decentralised energy capacities”. Also planned was “the construction of new balanced and manoeuvrable capacities for energy”.
“This process is quite challenging in wartime conditions, but we must implement it just as we have already implemented many difficulty projects,” he said.
And work was proceeding, Mr Zelensky said, on measures to protect existing energy sites.
Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy system in the first winter of the war, launched in February 2022, and renewed its assault on energy targets last March as Ukraine was running low on stocks of Western air defence missiles.
Drone and missile strikes have knocked out half of energy generating capacity since March, according to official accounts.
Attacks yesterday overnight hit four regions and cut power to more than 218,000 consumers, the Energy Ministry said.
Arpan Rai21 June 2024 05:25
South Korea says it could supply arms to Ukraine after Russia signs ‘absurd’ deal with North Korea
Alexander Butler21 June 2024 05:00
US says Putin remarks about possible weapons for North Korea ‘incredibly concerning’
Vladimir Putin’s remarks that Russia may supply weapons for North Korea after signing a defence pact with Pyongyang are “incredibly concerning,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
Putin suggested after a visit to North Korea this week that such weapons supplies to the isolated nuclear-armed country would be a mirror response to the Western arming of Ukraine.
He also warned that US ally South Korea would be making “a big mistake” if it decided to supply arms to Ukraine, and that Moscow would respond to such a move in a way that would be painful for Seoul.
“It is incredibly concerning,” Miller told a news briefing when asked about Putin’s remarks about possible arms supplies to North Korea.
“It would destabilise the Korean Peninsula, of course, and potentially... depending on the type of weapons they provide, might violate UN Security Council resolutions that Russia itself has supported.”
The treaty signed by Putin and Kim on Wednesday commits each side to provide immediate military assistance to the other in the event of armed aggression against either one of them.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby called it a cause of concern but no surprise. He said Russia’s need for such foreign assistance was a sign of desperation.
“We’ve been talking about this and warning about a burgeoning defence relationship between these two countries now for many months through a series of downgraded intelligence that we’ve put out there,” he said.
“Obviously it’s something we’ve taken seriously.”
Kirby said the US also believed the Russia-North Korea pact would also be a concern to China, which the United States has urged to do more to reign in Pyongyang.
Arpan Rai21 June 2024 04:59
US to rush air defence interceptor missiles to Ukraine
The White House will rush delivery of air defence interceptor missiles to Ukraine by redirecting planned shipments to other allied nations, as Washington scrambles to counter increased Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
National security spokesperson John Kirby said the US had taken the “difficult but necessary decision to reprioritise near-term planned deliveries of foreign military sales to other countries,” though he wouldn’t say which nations would be affected or how many.
“Right now, we know that Ukraine urgently needs these additional capabilities,” Mr Kirby said on a call with reporters, adding, “Obviously more is needed, and it’s needed now.”
The announcement comes after president Joe Biden, during last week’s Group of Seven meeting in Italy, suggested such action might be necessary, saying, “We’ve let it be known for those countries that are expecting, from us, air defence systems in the future, that they’re going to have to wait.”
“Everything we have is going to go to Ukraine until their needs are met,” Biden said. “And then we will make good on the commitments we made to other countries.”
Arpan Rai21 June 2024 04:33
Ukrainian author and soldier warns the West: ‘War is coming to you’
A junkyard of burnt cars. Shattered glass and shell fragments. Bodies lining the streets.
This is Oleksandr Mykhed’s language of war. This is the language of Ukrainians. This is, he says, what we should be ready for: “Because this might happen in your country, and you’d better be prepared for that.”
Mykhed – one of Ukraine’s most prolific authors – is in London promoting his tenth book, The Language of War. His once floppy blonde hair is gone, shaved into a military-style buzz cut instead; it is a nod to his second job, the one he did not choose.
Mykhed, 36, enlisted in the military as soon as the full-scale invasion began. Though he had no previous experience, he was told he would be a mortar battery ammunition man. “You will pass grenades to the loader, carry a box of grenades and the mortar itself,” the enlistment officer said to him, after he asked what he meant by “mortar man”.
Tom Watling speaks to him:
Arpan Rai21 June 2024 04:10
US will move Ukraine to front of line for air defense missile deliveries, White House says
Alexander Butler21 June 2024 04:00
‘Mass’ drone attack in Russia’s Krasnodar region
Ukraine’s military launched a “mass” drone attack on southern Russia’s Krasnodar region, but there were no casualties or damage, local Russian officials said this morning.
As a result of the attack, three municipalities came under attack, emergency officials said. Fragments from one drone fell on a guest house in Temriuk district, but its residents were evacuated and there were no injuries.
Emergency crews were working at the sites of the attacks.
Arpan Rai21 June 2024 03:59
Russia hammers Ukraine's power grid again and Kyiv's drones target enemy oil depots
Russia resumed its aerial pounding of Ukraine’s power grid and Kyiv’s forces again targeted Russian oil facilities with cross-border drone strikes, officials said yesterday.
In its seventh major attack on Ukrainian power plants since Moscow intensified energy infrastructure attacks three months ago, Russia fired nine missiles and 27 Shahed drones at energy facilities and critical infrastructure in central and eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said.
The attack hit power structures in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions of Ukraine, according to national power company Ukrenergo.
Air defences intercepted all the drones and five cruise missiles, the Ukrainian air force said.
With no major changes reported along the 1,000km (600 mile) frontline, where a recent push by the Kremlin’s forces in eastern and northeastern Ukraine has made only incremental gains, both sides in the war have taken aim at distant infrastructure targets.
Arpan Rai21 June 2024 03:41
A Ukrainian author turned soldier has a stark warning for the West: ‘Be prepared for war with Russia’
Ajunkyard of burned cars. Shattered glass and shell fragments. Bodies lining the streets.
This is Oleksandr Mykhed’s language of war. This is the language of Ukrainians. This is, he says, what we should be ready for: “Because this might happen in your country, and you’d better be prepared for that.”
Mykhed – one of Ukraine’s most prolific authors – is in London promoting his tenth book, The Language of War. His once floppy blonde hair is gone, shaved into a military-style buzz cut instead; it is a nod to his second job, the one he did not choose.
Alexander Butler21 June 2024 03:00
US to reprioritise missiles for Ukraine, White House says
The US will reprioritise planned deliveries of foreign military sales of Patriot and other missiles to go to Ukraine, which is in “desperate need” of more air defense capabilities amid its ongoing war with Russia, the White House said.
Alexander Butler21 June 2024 02:00
