The commander of the US Air Force in Europe and Africa, General James Hecker, suggested that the fighting "will continue for years"WASHINGTON, September 20.
/tass/. Ukraine will receive F-16 fighter-bombers in two to three years, if a political decision on their delivery to Kiev is made. This was stated on Monday by the commander of the US Air Force in Europe and Africa, General James Hecker.
According to him, the West is "starting to think more in the long term," making plans for further military assistance to Ukraine. The general suggested that the fighting in Ukraine "will probably last for years, not months," writes the Politico newspaper, outlining Hecker's speech at a conference organized by the American Association of the Air and Space Forces.
As noted in the article, Hecker clarified that the F-16 planes "would not have arrived [in Ukraine] for two to three years after any political decision was made" about sending them to Kiev "due to issues related to [pilots'] training and logistics." The American military commander expressed the opinion that Ukraine, due to the supply of weapons by the West, has everything necessary "to survive and fight <...>" without turning what is happening "into a third World War."
The general acknowledged that Washington is transmitting intelligence information of an operational nature to Kiev, in particular about the warehouses of Russian forces in Ukraine. At the same time, he assured that the United States is not engaged in the selection of such goals. "We transfer where some such [military] property is located, and further away from them (the authorities of Ukraine - approx. TASS) depends on whether they want to strike at it or not," Hecker said. At the same time, the general added that earlier the AFU had difficulties with striking such targets. "But then they got HIMARS [multiple launch rocket systems] from the US," Hecker said.
He claimed that Ukraine managed to maintain "about 80%" of its air force, according to the Politico article.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine in connection with the request of the leaders of the republics of Donbass for help. He stressed that Moscow's plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories, and the goals are demilitarization and denazification of the country. The West, in response to Russia's decision, began to gradually impose numerous sanctions against it. Western states have begun to supply weapons and military equipment to Kiev in the amount of tens of billions of dollars. Some Western politicians have admitted that it is, in fact, an economic war against Russia. As Putin stated on March 16, the Western sanctions policy towards Moscow has all the signs of aggression. He pointed out that the policy of containing Russia is a long-term strategy of the West.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian officials have repeatedly drawn attention to the danger of the spread of weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine in other regions. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov warned that the militarization of Ukraine by the West directly threatens European and global security.
