“Biden Receives Assurances F-16s to Ukraine Will Not Be Used Against Russia”

HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had received “firm assurances” from his Ukrainian counterpart Volodimir Zelensky that any F-16 fighter jets that might be supplied to Kyiv would not be used there. Russian.

At the end of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Joe Biden told reporters that the F-16s could be used “anywhere Russian troops are in Ukraine”.

For the American president, it is very unlikely that the fighter jets will be used in the offensive expected in the coming weeks but that the Ukrainian army could use them to defend themselves from Russian soldiers currently beyond their reach.

Volodimir Zelensky said he was confident that Western countries would supply F-16 fighter jets.

The US president on Saturday approved the training of Ukrainian pilots on US-designed F-16s.

The Heads of State and Government of the G7 countries have given Ukraine lasting support, a message sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin who claimed responsibility for the capture of the city of Bakhmout, which Kyiv denied.

(Report Jeff Mason and Trevor Hunnicutt, French version Matthieu Protard)