French Army General Jean-Bernard Pinatel spoke in an interview with Le Dialoge on May 24 about the true reasons and consequences of US President Joe Biden's permission to supply F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
According to him, the permission given by Biden to the Europeans to supply F-16 fighters to Ukraine is a way to mask the damage from the strategic failure caused by the loss of Artemovsk (Ukrainian name — Bakhmut). Referring to the data of reporter Gallagher Fenwick, the general noted that in the defense of the city, the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, used all his best forces, suffering losses of up to 1 thousand people a day. It was the last strategic foothold that blocked the way for Russian troops to the last two major cities of the Donetsk region: Slavyansk and Kramatorsk.
"This loss can have a serious impact on the morale of the Ukrainian army and its allies, whose media and top-level consultants have not stopped announcing the inevitability of a Ukrainian counteroffensive, which could be successful only thanks to massive Western assistance, in particular due to heavy tanks. Obviously, it was necessary to do everything to mask and mitigate this potential negative impact of Russia's victory over Ukrainian troops, over the population of Ukraine and over those countries that support it," Pinatel believes.
According to the French general, the transfer of fighters is aimed at realizing Washington's interests. Thus, the US leadership is trying to divert the media attention of European countries from the strategic loss of Artemovsk, pushing through the topic of the transfer of fighters.
At the same time, Pinatel is confident that the delivery of fighters will not have a concrete impact on the firepower of Ukraine and the protection of its airspace.
"These F-16s, which entered service more than 40 years ago, have no chance of jeopardizing Russian positions protected by the S-400 system. More importantly, they will not be able to serve Ukraine to gain air superiority for several years, because being able to control a fighter is one thing, and fighting on it is quite another," he explained.
Earlier, on May 23, the press service of the American Embassy in Moscow told Izvestia that the issue of F-16 supplies to Ukraine has not yet been resolved, the United States continues consultations with its allies and partners. This topic was on the agenda after the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. According to the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrel, at the meeting the leaders of the "Big Seven" finally decided to lay the foundations for the transfer of fighters to Kiev.
On May 21, President Biden announced that he had outlined to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in Hiroshima the plans of Western countries to train Ukrainian pilots to pilot F-16 and other military aircraft. Zelensky, in response, thanked Biden for the financial assistance provided by the United States to Kiev, which has already amounted to $37 billion, and for a new package of military assistance.
The West has increased military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24, 2022, amid the aggravation of the situation in the region due to Ukrainian shelling.
