Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday made a landmark visit to Hiroshima for talks with G7 leaders, after securing long-sought access to advanced US fighter jets for Ukraine’s war effort.
Zelenskiy’s surprise summit appearance — he had been expected to appear by video call — is his furthest foray from Kyiv since Russia’s invasion began 15 months ago.
He arrived significantly buoyed by what he called a “historic” White House decision to allow Ukraine access to F-16 jets, among the most sophisticated materiel yet supplied by the West.
Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service / handout via Reuters
On landing, Zelenskiy said the summit would bring “increased cooperation for our victory,” and that “today, peace will be closer.”
After a winter of fighting that saw Russian gains in the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s forces have regrouped for a counteroffensive, but they remain dependent on the flow of Western weaponry.
Military experts say the aircraft would be a significant upgrade from Ukraine’s aging Soviet-era fleet, offering greater ability to eventually strike targets in the air or on the ground.
They are also a potent symbol of Western support for Ukraine, forestalling any talk of waning interest as the conflict grinds on.
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian major general, called the decision “very significant.”
“F-16s have the sensors and weapon systems that are either equal to, or overmatch, Russian fighters,” he said, adding that the jets would make life “more difficult” for Russian missile-launching aircraft operating in and around Ukraine.
Until now, US President Joe Biden had effectively vetoed the transfer of US-made F-16s, with officials citing long pilot training times and the risk of escalating the conflict with Russia.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said there had been no about-face in US policy, and the decision was based on the “exigencies of the conflict.”
“We’ve reached a moment where it’s time to look down the road and to say: ‘What is Ukraine going to need ... to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression?’” he said.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS