Despite the massive amounts of ammunition, artillery pieces, tanks, and fighter aircraft donated by Western Europe and the United States, retired Jordanian Air Force General Mamoun Abu Nowar told Al Jazeera that he does not believe the Ukrainian army is capable of launching a counterattack because they do not have the necessary equipment.
“They lack the air power, they lack the F-16s. It takes at least five to six months of tests and a break-in program to train pilots for this aircraft. Patriots, F-16s and other equipment would not be a strategic change, they would not change the course of the war for the Ukrainians or the Russians,” said Abu Nowar.
He added that what we are seeing now is a defensive war. “Both sides are trying to fight a war of attrition, but things are not changing,” he said.
So far, the total amount of delivered and pledged Western military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine — including financing to prop up the country’s faltering budget — stands at $128 billion, of which EU countries and institutions have contributed $52 billion, with most of the rest coming from the United States.
At the end of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, U.S. President Joe Biden’s remarks also seem to indicate that Ukraine might receive F16 fighter planes, which Ukraine has long been asking for but never received.
In March, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his armed forces are suffering from a lack of artillery, tanks, ammunition and jets. While speaking during a joint press conference with his Latvian counterpart Egils Levits in Lviv, Zelensky said that more equipment must be sent to Ukraine to help the country win the war.
“Artillery is the number one thing that we need. Both systems and ammunition, shells in large amounts,” Zelensky said.
