Plans with Western F-16 jets: Zelensky threatens Moscow with retaliatory airstrikes

Plans for Western F-16 jets
Zelensky threatens Moscow with retaliatory airstrikes

August 27, 2024, 12:32 am

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Russia strikes Ukraine with unprecedented airstrikes, killing or injuring dozens Now President Zelensky has announced retaliation for the latest attack from Moscow. Western-supplied F-16 jets will also be used.

After large-scale Russian airstrikes against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced retaliation. A military response is being prepared using F-16 fighter jets supplied by the West, Zelensky said in his evening video message. According to reports from Kiev, Russia attacked the neighboring country with 236 rockets, cruise missiles and drones. At least seven people died and 47 were injured, according to officials. Ukraine has been defending itself against a Russian invasion since February 2022.

Zelensky did not provide any details about the planned retaliation. However, he once again referred to the three-week-long Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk region. Ukrainian troops expanded their control there and took back Russian prisoners of war, improving the possibilities of prisoner exchanges.

The president also justified the invasion of the Kursk region by saying that Western allies had not yet approved long-range weapons for use on Russian territory. The presence of Ukrainian troops and their efforts to eliminate the Russian threat is a way to compensate for the lack of approval.

Kiev’s problems in the fight against corruption

On August 6, Ukraine occupied the Kursk region with about 10,000 soldiers. Zelensky also spoke of increasing pressure on Moscow to engage in negotiations for a just peace. After the invasion, however, Russia declared its unwillingness to hold talks.

In his video address, Zelensky also spoke about the problems in his own country in the struggle against the Russian war of aggression. Accordingly, he received reports on collaborators and criminal cases against Ukrainians who defended the Russian occupation or participated in the war against Kiev. The Ukrainian secret service repeatedly reports arrests and convictions in such cases. Zelensky said that the meeting with the heads of the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Border Guard focused in particular on illegal escape from the country.

Many Ukrainians fleeing the war effort pay smugglers to cross the green border and leave the country. Zelensky announced a plan to solve the problems. It also aims to combat corruption in recruiting offices, where conscripts are sometimes forced out of military service by paying for unqualified certificates.