Media: The US Secretary of State Blinken and Pentagon chief Austin lobbied for the decision to provide Ukraine with F-16 aircraft

Author:
Liza Brovko
Date:

The United States of America has allowed its allies to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and they themselves will train Ukrainian pilots to use them. The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin contributed to this decision in Washington.

The Washington Post (WP) and The New York Times (NYT) write about it.

According to American officials, Anthony Blinken was the main lobbyist in the presidential administration regarding the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv. He actively worked with NATO allies to promote this solution. The State Secretary took the same position on the issue of supplying Ukraine with modern tanks. The Washington Post notes that it was he who "pushed" the White House to transfer the M1 Abrams tanks.

Meanwhile, Lloyd Austin insisted that American officials support a plan by European allies to transfer Western aircraft to Ukraine. This happened after the US Defense Minister met with colleagues from 50 countries in the Rammstein format on April 21.

The NYT writes that then Austin returned to Washington and told senior officials of the Biden administration about the need to change the position on the training of Ukrainian pilots and at least allow other countries to transfer planes to Ukraine.

The head of the Pentagon secured the unanimous support of the national security representatives of the Biden administration and before the summit of the "Big Seven" (G7) officially recommended the US president to make a positive decision about the F-16 for Ukraine.