Ukrainian President Zelenskyy hails the arrival of U.S.-made F16 fighter jets

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday the long-awaited arrival of American-made F‑16 fighter jets, calling it a “new stage” for Ukraine’s air war with Russia.
Mr. Zelenskyy made the announcement while speaking to reporters at a Ukrainian air base. He said the arrival of the F‑16 jets, manufactured by U.S.-based company Lockheed Martin, was the result of a major behind-the-scenes push by Kyiv to persuade the Biden administration to send the aircraft.

“This is the new stage of development of the air force of Ukraine’s armed forces,” Mr. Zelenskyy said, according to Reuters.

“We did a lot for Ukrainian forces to transition to a new aviation standard, the Western combat aviation,” he said. “We often heard ’it is impossible’ as an answer but we still made our ambition, our defensive need, possible.”
The Biden administration initially approve …