Zelensky on counteroffensive: We will not delay, we will start before we have F-16s
President Volodymyr Zelensky calls on Western partners to make a decision on providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, and at the same time emphasizes that the lack of modern aircraft will not affect the start of a counteroffensive.
He said this in an interview with representatives of the Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian mass media, Censor.NET reports with reference to Ukrinform.
"It is very important not to give the control in the sky completely to Russia, that is why the aviation coalition is very important. Here there must be the will of the leaders of the states that have modern aviation. Of course, we will also appeal to your countries for appropriate aviation, and we will appeal very persistently and, I'll tell you frankly, in the near future," Zelensky said.
According to him, the provision of HIMARS, NASAMS, Iris-T systems to Ukraine became the new pages in the war started by Russia, and now it is time for aviation.
The president emphasized that there are countries that have F-16 or other modern aircraft on their balance sheets and want to help Ukraine, but "everything requires will."
"You don't need to be afraid of Russia. The worst thing happened: they started a full-scale war. I think this is the worst thing... A very important argument today: don't be afraid to end it, don't think about what will happen next with Russia, the main thing is to think about what will happen next with security in the world. Security in the world will be in safe hands, because the second army of the world has been shown that if you violate human rights in any state, the allies will put you in your place," Zelensky emphasized.
At the same time, answering the question whether the decision to provide aircraft to Ukraine is of decisive importance for the start of the counteroffensive, the President remarked: "To be honest, it would help a lot. We understand that we will not delay like this, so we will start even before we have "there will be F-16s or others. Reassure Russia that we still need a few months to learn on the planes, and only then we will start... No, it won't be like that. We will start and we will go ahead."
At the same time, the head of state added that a decision about the planes should be made at the same time.
