The Biden administration has knowledgeable European allies that Washington is not going to block their export of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, an individual aware of the choice instructed The Washington Submit. President Biden has stated beforehand that he opposes the US sending F-16s to Ukraine.
President Biden is in Japan to attend the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, the place the Russian invasion of Ukraine is among the prime objects on the agenda. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is about to attend the assembly in individual, in accordance with folks aware of the plans. In response to the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya information channel, he’ll first journey to Saudi Arabia for the Arab League summit on Friday.
Air raid alerts had been heard in several components of Ukraine within the early morning hours on Friday. Kyiv municipal authorities warned residents to take cowl on Telegram. In Lviv, Mayor Andriy Sadovy stated on Telegram that there have been no casualties following drone assaults on the western metropolis’s important infrastructure.
Right here’s the newest on the struggle and its ripple results throughout the globe.
Europe’s army industrial capabilities fall in need of Ukraine’s wants: When Zelensky made a whirlwind tour of Western capitals this week, the billions of {dollars} in new army help was an indication that European governments had been lastly digging deep to supply sustained backing for a protracted struggle. Zelensky had made clear forward of his visits to Berlin, Paris and London that Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive couldn’t start till extra weapons and ammunition had been secured, Catherine Belton and Emily Rauhala report.
However whereas British deliveries of the long-range Storm Shadow missiles might considerably improve Ukraine’s offensive capabilities, a lot of the weaponry pledged by European leaders this week is unlikely to succeed in the battlefield till nicely after the beginning of the counteroffensive, army consultants say, and Europe’s means to maintain such help sooner or later stays unclear.