Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to be able to recruit former North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance F-16 pilots to fly for Ukraine against Russia, and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are already behind the idea.
Graham and Blumenthal issued a press statement on Aug. 12, upon returning from their sixth visit to Ukraine. The two senators cheered an ongoing Ukrainian offensive inside Russia’s borders, and insisted the United States and NATO could do more to boost Ukraine in their war with Russia.
Among their list of proposals to help Ukraine, the two senators said they’d work to allocate additional rounds of U.S. military aid, after Congress allocated around $61 billion in Ukraine-related funding this spring. Graham and Blumenthal also called for NATO to formally invite Ukraine into the alliance, a measure Russian President Vladimir Putin has steadfastly opposed.
The two senators indicated Blumenthal would take the lead on a new bill, to be called the “Stand With Ukraine Act,” that would reinforce a bilateral security agreement President Joe Biden made with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month.
Graham and Blumenthal also urged Biden Administration to remove limits on when and how Ukrainian forces can use U.S.-donated weapons on Russian territory.
The Biden administration has been hesitant to permit Ukrainian forces to strike Russia with U.S. weapons. Putin has suggested he would treat countries donating weapons to strike Russia as co-belligerents to the current Russia-Ukraine conflict.
By late May, the Biden administration agreed to let Ukrainian forces conduct cross-border counter-fire to strike Russian forces and weapons striking inside Ukraine. Still, Zelenskyy and his supporters have suggested the Biden administration could further remove restrictions against attacking inside Russian soil.
This week, Zelenskyy acknowledged Ukrainian troops are fighting in Russia’s Kursk region. Numerous NATO-donated weapons systems have been reported in the Kursk front.
“Ukraine’s decision to go on the offensive in the Kursk region of Russia was bold and brilliant,” Graham and Blumenthal said Monday.
The two senators said they’d now like to see NATO countries permit Ukraine to recruit their former F-16 pilots, to supplement his existing corps of pilots.
NATO initially donated F-16s to Ukraine with the plan to train Ukrainian pilots to operate them. The first few Ukrainian trainees graduated their F-16 training course in May, but the Zelenskyy government has been eager to get more qualified F-16 pilots. In June, Politico reported Ukraine is eager to send more pilots through F-16 school, but that the training facilities in the U.S., Denmark, and Romania all have limited slots available, frustrating the Zelenskyy government’s efforts.
Zelenskyy has evidently looked to other ways to source more F-16 pilots.
“President Zelenskyy told us both that he would be looking to supplement his Air Force by establishing a program to enlist retired NATO F-16 fighter pilots,” Graham and Blumenthal wrote on Monday. “We support this effort. Ukraine is already fielding units of freedom fighters on the ground, and this volunteer force should be replicated in the air.”
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
