Denmark authorizes Ukraine to strike Russia with its F-16s
Ahead of their imminent arrival in Ukraine, Denmark has announced that it will allow Kiev to use its promised F-16 fighter jets to strike targets inside Russia.
The decision, announced by Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, comes amid growing calls to grant the war-torn nation greater freedom to strike deep into Russian territory.
Since the invasion began in February 2022, Ukraine has been limited by most of its Western allies to using donated weapons only inside Ukraine for fear of a military escalation that could involve other countries.
According to Rasmussen, wider use of F-16s in Ukraine would be “in accordance with the rules of war” because Moscow started the conflict and Kiev is only defending itself.
“Even though they are inside Russia, they are legitimate military targets because Russia attacked Ukraine,” he told reporters in Brussels. “It fully complies with the rules of war.”
This appears to be the first time that Ukraine has been allowed to use Western-supplied warplanes to strike Russia.
Germany, Canada, France, Poland and Sweden had already given their approval to the use of their missiles and other donated weapons to strike Russian territory. The United States followed suit, but only to defend the under-fire Kharkiv region.
F 16 AB
Only condition
Denmark's approval means Kiev can use fourth-generation fighter jets to strike Russian weapons depots and other facilities aiding Ukraine's war.
In this way, the war-torn nation has the opportunity to weaken Russian forces, which have gained the upper hand in Ukraine.
However, Rasmussen clarified that the approval does not mean "carte blanche."
He said Ukraine was still prohibited from using F-16 jets to launch “arbitrary attacks” in Russia that could harm civilians.
The first batch of Danish F-16s should arrive in Kiev by the second quarter of this year, therefore by the end of this month, but for now they have not arrived.
Possible escalation?
Before the announcement, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that Ukraine is authorized to use weapons donated by Denmark on Russian territory.
This immediately set Moscow off, with Russian ambassador to Denmark Vladimir Barbin declaring that the decision “could lead to an uncontrolled development” of the war.
Asked if he feared a potential escalation because of the move, Rasmussen said he wasn't worried at all.
“If we're talking about the risk of an actual attack on our territory, then that's not something that worries me,” he stressed.
Obviously he is not worried, but the predictions on the evolution of this war are far from simple and have often proven to be wrong.
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The article Denmark authorizes Ukraine to hit Russia with its F-16s comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-danimarca-autorizza-lucraina-a-colpire-la-russia-coi-propri-f-16/ on Tue, 04 Jun 2024 05:15:09 +0000.