Biden endorses plan to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, official says
CBC
23-05-19 16:55
US President Joe Biden has told G7 leaders that he supports a jointly-organised effort to train Ukrainian pilots using F-16 fighter jets. Training will take place in Europe and is likely to take months. US officials predict that training and the delivery of F-16s will take a minimum of 18 months. Senior US officials have not yet disclosed which countries will participate. Poland and Slovakia have already handed over 27 MiG-29s, but western governments remain wary of sending too much equipment as they do not want to leave their own territories undefended. Ukraine is currently in the midst of its biggest advance for months against invading Russian troops. Western countries have remained cautious regarding their involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. Earlier this week, the UK and Netherlands pledged to help Ukraine develop a "jets coalition".
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that NATO allies are providing an “unprecedented level of support” to Ukraine in its conflict against Russia. He noted that allies have supplied tanks, artillery, modernized air defense systems, and have trained and equipped nine Ukrainian brigades in the past two months. However, the issue of supplying Ukraine with Western fighter jets was avoided, and Stoltenberg suggested that the matter would continue to be discussed both within NATO and with Ukraine – perhaps at a defence ministers’ meeting in June. He also commented on NATO’s role in supply chain management. It is not enough just to supply equipment, but the capacity for maintaining that equipment has to be in place too, Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg was also questioned on NATO spending targets. He has advocated a minimum of 2% of gross domestic product for NATO member spending, but noted that this target had been set nine years ago, and only seven of the then 30 member states had achieved it as of last year. He expressed the view that “The agreement we reached together in Wales in 2014 has made a significant difference. Until then, defense spending was going down. Since then, it has been going up, although not as much as I would like.” On the issue of Ukraine’s possible NATO admission, Stoltenberg commented that for now, NATO’s goal must be to “help Kyiv in the military conflict”. It must be ensured that Russia “doesn’t continue to attack a sovereign, independent nation in Ukraine.”
Businessman Marian Kocner has been cleared for a second time of masterminding the double murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova in Slovakia in 2018. Kocner's associate, however, Alena Zsuzsova, was convicted. The murder of Kuciak and Kusnirova rocked Slovakia, with Kuciak having been covering alleged government corruption when the couple were shot dead at their home. The killings prompted the largest protests in the country since the fall of communism in 1989.
The US is supporting a joint effort with other allies to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets in a move that underlines support for Kyiv as it seeks to boost its air power against Russian invasion forces. The training will take place in Europe on fourth-generation F-16 fighters and will take several months to complete. The most efficient time needed for training and delivery of the fighter jets has been estimated at 18 months, although the official did not reveal which other countries participating in the training.
A court in Slovakia has acquitted businessman Marian Kocner for a second time of having masterminded the murders of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova in 2018. A retrial was ordered after the previous verdict was quashed by the country's Supreme Court. Two other people have been sentenced over the killings and a fourth, Alena Zsuzsova, has been found guilty of the murders and sentenced to 25 years in prison, as well as the planning of the murders of three prosecutors. Afterwards, Kuciak's father Jozef Kuciak told reporters he "absolutely didn’t understand" how Kocner could have been freed.
US President Joe Biden has given permission for Ukrainian pilots to receive training on American F-16 combat jets. Western countries backing the Ukrainian government have insisted that their pilots are trained to operate equipment first before delivery, as part of an initiative that is already underway with some other NATO members. Biden gave the green light at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, though a decision on the delivery of the US-made aircraft is yet to come. The coalition will decide who would provide the F-16s, when and how many they will supply, with training due to start shortly and last several months.
Far-right activists in Melbourne are turning to "breadcrumbing," a slow and steady process of introducing extreme ideas into a debate, in a bid to shape public discourse, according to Deakin University extremism expert Dr Josh Roose. The strategy involves gradually dropping chunks of information into online debates, in an attempt to increase the number of potential recruits to the far-right. The technique is used widely among members of anti-government group MyPlace, which has spawned more than 100 offshoots across Australia, despite not all members adhering to neo-Nazi or far-right beliefs. In a confidential briefing this week, Roose and other experts helped more than 100 Australian councillors deal with the far-right and hate speech.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed a decision by the US government to support the training of Ukrainian pilots on US-made F-16 fighters. The plans to train the pilots form part of what has been touted as a “historic decision” by Zelenskyy and have been called “strategic assistance” by US officials. With Ukraine having improved its air defences and preparing to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces, the fighter jets could prove vital in Ukraine’s battles with Moscow, as they are considered to be far more effective than the Soviet-era jets the country already possesses.
The United States won 1-0 against Ecuador in the opening matches of the Under-20 World Cup, with left back Jonathan Gomez scoring the winning goal in injury time. Until that point, both sides had little inspiration in their play, with Ecuador not producing a single shot on target. In Group A, New Zealand scored the first goal of the tournament, with Norman Garbett netting in the 80th minute to beat Guatemala. Hosts Argentina were due to play Asian champions Uzbekistan in their opening match. Indonesia's spot in the tournament was given to Argentina due to protests against hosting Israel.
On May 22, various sports events will be taking place, including the AVP Women's and Men's Championships in beach volleyball, the NCAA Women's Golf Tournament, the IIHF Men's Hockey World Championship, MLB baseball, NBA and NHL playoffs, the FIFA U-20 World Cup in soccer, and multiple tennis tournaments. The schedule is subject to change and/or blackouts.
Russia's seaborne crude oil exports to China and India continue to rise and show no sign of the output cuts promised by the country in March, in response to Western sanctions and limits on oil price exports. Four-week average seaborne shipments rose for a sixth straight week to 4 million barrels a day, and flows are now up 15% since the start of April. Last week, Putin reiterated Russia's commitment to the OPEC+ producer group and the output cuts agreement, saying that all actions, including voluntary production cuts, are connected to the need to support global market prices. However, analysts have suggested that Russia is using stockpiles to maintain its current level of exports.
It is feared that Russia’s reliance on a shadow fleet of ageing tankers to transport its oil to China and India may be becoming increasingly problematic, as a Chinese port increases checks on older vessels, causing some cargoes to get held up and creating concerns around this group of vessels. A Moscow-based thinktank, cited by the FT, claims that Russia’s long-haul destinations to Asia are more costly and time-consuming than its previous northern European short-haul routes, however. Russia’s exports to northern European countries fell to zero in the four weeks to 19 May.
