The United States announced the emerging progress on the transfer of F-16 fighters to Ukraine

The likelihood of the United States transferring F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine is gradually increasing. This assessment was made today, February 19, on the air of the CNN television company by the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of the US Congress, Michael McCall (Republican from Texas), reports TASS.

“The longer they delay, the longer this conflict will drag on,” – he said, answering the presenter’s question about whether it is worth expecting that the administration of US President Joe Biden will decide on the supply of fighter jets to Kyiv.

“I hope this will happen,” he stressed, expressing the opinion that the United States should provide Ukraine with all types of weapons requested by Kiev. “I think that progress is being made in this direction,” McCall pointed out.

On Feb. 17, Politico reported that a group of five congressmen, including both Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to Biden urging him to hand over the F-16 to Ukraine.

Biden said on January 31 that Washington would not transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Later, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that Kyiv was invited to begin training in the UK for marines and fighter pilots in service with NATO. However, Sunak’s representative subsequently clarified that the government had not made a decision to transfer the fighters to Ukraine and the issue would be considered from different angles. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Republican Defense Minister Boris Pistorius have repeatedly stated that Germany is not going to supply fighter jets to Ukraine.

As Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, emphasized, Moscow perceives the supply of weapons by the West to the Ukrainian armed forces as a growing involvement of Western countries in the conflict in Ukraine.