US-supplied F-16 fighter jets will be stationed within Ukrainian territory, according to the White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in an interview on PBS on June 19.
He noted that the bilateral security agreement between the United States and Ukraine reinforces that the provided F-16 aircraft will be located on Ukrainian soil.
“The plan is to put the F-16s in Ukraine. And the bilateral security agreement that the president and President Zelenskyy signed reinforced this point, that we want to help Ukraine have this capability. It should be a capability based in Ukraine,” Sullivan said.
He further emphasized that Ukraine can, in the event of a threat, use the provided air defense systems, including those recently delivered by the US to target Russian aircraft, even if they’re within Russian airspace.
“Well, first, we are permitting Ukrainian forces to attack Russian forces using Russia as a sanctuary in the areas where on the battlefield they are attacking from inside Russia with artillery, with other ground-based munitions.” Sullivan then expands, saying, that “they can use air defense systems, including those supplied by the United States, to take Russian planes out of the sky, even if those Russian planes are in Russian airspace, if they’re about to fire into Ukrainian airspace.”
On June 13, during the Summit on Peace for Ukraine in Switzerland, Ukraine and the United States signed a 10-year bilateral security agreement to share weapons, intelligence, long-term training, and joint weapons production.
