NBC’s Alexander Confronts Biden Spox John Kirby Over ‘Assurances’ F-16s to Ukraine Won’t Escalate War With Russia
After several months opposing the idea, President Joe Biden changed his mind and announced overnight the United States will train Ukrainian military pilots to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been vehemently requesting for months. The country is now anticipating flying the fighters, which will be provided through allied nations, as early as this fall in the continuing war with Russia.
On NBC’s Today, Peter Alexander asked Biden’s national security spox John Kirby what changed to make Biden flip his view, stated several times over the last few months, that Ukraine does not need F-16s and that providing them could escalate the war.
Kirby said that “nothing changed,” and that American support has been “evolving” over time — and added that providing the fighter jets isn’t really “designed to help us in the immediate future with the counter-offensive.”
Alexander asked Kirby the risk of escalation after Russia responded on Saturday that the decision by President Biden is a “colossal risk.”
“we have had multiple conversations with the Ukrainians about the risk of escalation here,” Kirby answered. “Nobody wants to see World War III. And we have made it clear that we’re not going to encourage or enable Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory.”
Peter Alexander: The White House just announced overnight for Americans back at home that it will support its allies in providing F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. No timetable, not even clear who’s going to be providing them, but President Zelensky has been begging for them for more than a year. President Biden has resisted until this point. So what changed?
John Kirby: Nothing changed. I mean, we have been evolving our support for Ukraine as the war has evolved. And when we’re talking about fighter aircraft, that’s really not designed to help us in the immediate future here with the counter-offensive.
Peter Alexander: The training alone, John, could take 18 months. The defense secretary, the defense…
John Kirby: Well, that’s that’s a that’s that’s an initial estimate. What we have seen in the past is some of that training, when we have thought it was going to take longer, ends up not taking that long. We’ll let the Pentagon sort that out. But to your point, Peter, the support has evolved over time as the war has evolved. And, but as the war has evolved, we’ve also started to have conversations with the Ukrainians about long term defense needs. Because when this war is over, whenever that is and under what conditions, they’re still going to have a long border with Russia, they’re still going to need significant defense support.
Peter Alexander: Let me follow up quickly. Just a short time ago, the Kremlin responded, calling this a, quote, ‘colossal risk.’ President Biden’s concern from the very beginning with providing F-16s was that it could potentially escalate this war. What assurances does the U.S. have from Ukraine that they won’t use these F-16s to fire into Russia that could widen this war?
John Kirby: I will tell you, Peter, we have had multiple conversations with the Ukrainians about the risk of escalation here. Nobody wants to see World War III. And we have made it clear that we’re not going to encourage or enable Ukraine to strike inside Russian territory. Now, the Ukrainians have been very honest with us and very forthcoming and and quite frankly, very responsible when it comes to the kind of support we’re giving them, not using that to go inside Russia. So, we’ve had that discussion with the Ukrainians. We’ve had it with respect to fighter aircraft. We’re confident that they’ll live up to their commitments.
Watch the clip above via Today on NBC.
