Ukraine confirms that Russia has doubled the number of warships in the Black Sea, apparently in preparation for launching attacks.. and Biden rules out sending F-16 fighters to Kiev
US President Joe Biden said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not need F-16s at present, ruling out sending such fighters to Ukraine at the present time.
Biden added, in an interview with ABC News on Friday evening, that Zelensky “doesn’t need F-16s now … I’m ruling that out for the time being.”
The Russian navy frequently fires missiles from its fleet in the Black Sea as part of Moscow’s effort to target Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and power generation facilities.
The military command in the southern region said in an update on Facebook on Friday evening: “The fleet of warships in the Black Sea has doubled compared to this morning … now there are eight ships.”
She added that this “may indicate that a missile attack and drone strikes are in preparation.”
It explained that one of the ships was a frigate armed with eight Caliber missiles.
On Saturday, Ukraine said that Russia had launched four Kalibr missiles from the Black Sea, two of which were shot down.
Russia’s Black Sea fleet is stationed on the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
