President Joe Biden, 80, after last week’s G7 summit in Japan, decided to back Kiev getting F-16 training and eventual fighter jets, most likely from Poland or the Netherlands but not yet directly from the United States. Biden’s change of heart from previous statements suggest something has changed in the Ukraine War to change his mind. With Bakhmut falling to Russian forces May 20, despite 45-year-old Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky refusal to admit it, Biden and his national security team led by 60-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken and 45-yer-old National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, now believe that Ukraine is not winning the war. Biden and Zelensky have engaged since the Feb. 24, 2022 a fierce propaganda battle with the White House, Pentagon and Kiev touting Kiev’s battlefield victories over a battered and disorganized Russian military.
Any objective analysis of the 15 months of war has Russia making substantial inroads into Ukraaine’s sovereign territory. While not admitted by Washington and Kiev, 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin controls some 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Zelensky was offered to settle the conflict in March 2022 by Putin, offering a peace plan to accept the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Zelensky and Biden rejected Putin’s offer and went into full-scale war against the Kremlin. Fifteen months later, Zelensky lost the entire Black Sea coast and all of Ukraine’s strategic ports, not to mention more losses in Donbas. Zelensky opted for war with the Kremlin, over sitting down and working out a mutually beneficial settlement. Zelensky demands reparations and all Russian troops must get out of Ukraine.
Biden’s decision to support F-16 training and fighter jets relates to ongoing Ukrainian failures, pushed by the White House, insisting the U.S. must commit unlimited cash-and-weapons, now totally over $200 billion and counting. Biden and his national security team flip-flopped on F-16s because Zelensky is not delivering results on the battlefield. Military experts don’t think adding F-16s would be a game changer, although they would add a level of offensive capability to their arsenal. Biden’s national security team supports adding F-16s to Zelensky’s arsenal because the war is stalemated, with Russia, not Kiev, making more inroads. Instead of following the advice of Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio da Silva and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Biden and Zelensky refuse negotiate for peace.
Approving F-16 training or fighter jets to Kiev would be a major escalation in the Ukraine War, as seen by the Kremlin. Putin won’t take adding F-16s to Kiev’s arsenal lightly, continuing to find ways to neutralize the threat to the Russian Federation. Instead of working with U.N. peacemakers to move the conflict to the peace table, Biden and Zelensky continue to escalate the conflict. Biden, on the advice of 69-year-old Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, discussed adding F-16s to Ukraine’s arsenal at the G7 meeting in Hiroshima. Instead of going along with Biden’s failed proxy war with the Kremlin, G7 leaders should have urged Biden in the strongest possible terms to move the conflict to the peace table. Trying to topple the Russian Federation has far-reaching consequences for all countries seeking world peace. Putin sees the Western Alliance as attacking the Russian Federation.
Excuses given by Biden’s national security team for approving F-16 training and deliveries to Kiev are related to defending Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Yet after 15 months of war, Ukraine has watched its infrastructure bombed by Russia into the Stone Age, leaving the country bankrupt, unable to pay its civil servants or debt obligations without billions in U.S. foreign aid. Zelensky badly miscalculated deciding to go to war against the Kremlin with U.S. backing. Biden has given Ukraine a blank check without any restrictions or time lines. Moving to approve F-16 training and fighter jets indicated that Ukraine is losing the war or more, realistically, stalemated with the Kremlin. Zelensky promised he would drive Russian forces out of Ukraine with his spring offensive, armed with new battle tanks, armored personnel carriers and a variety of medium range ballistic missiles.
Biden’s decision to approve F-16 training a fighter jets to Ukraine is a glaring admission that Zelensky is losing the war. Adding fighter jets is one step removed from putting U.S. and NATO boots on the ground to battle the Russian Federation. Biden’s reluctance to let U.N. peacemakers find a political solution to the Ukraine War proves that the White House and Pentagon believe Zelensky is losing the war. Whatever the reasons, escalating the war by adding F-16s is no guarantee that it changes the outcome now or in the future. Biden rejected the advice of his own Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of State Gen. Mark Miley who said Nov. 16, 2022 that there is only a political solution to ending the Ukraine War. Shortly after, rumors of Miley’s retirement began to circulate. If the U.S. or NATO really thought Putin were a threat to Europe, they would commit troops to push Russia out of Ukraine.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
