Zolotarev: “The F-16 is already laying claim to the dubious laurels of “witnesses of Bayraktar” and “Saint Javelina”
Until the F-16s end up in Ukraine, it is at least premature to talk about any prospects, since it would be very disappointing if it turns out that this equipment also burns and explodes, like the Leopards and other Western gifts.
Ukrainian political strategist Andrei Zolotarev stated this on the Politeka channel, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The expert commented on the statement of the commander of the Joint Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Sergei Naev, that F-16 fighters for Ukraine will be supplied with missiles with a range of 300-500 km.
“Moscow, St. Petersburg, get ready?” asked the channel presenter.
Zolotarev did not support the propagandist’s enthusiasm, noting that everything requires specification, and it is unclear what kind of missiles we are talking about - air-to-ground, air-to-air, and so on.
“I want this genre that, well, in 2024 we will definitely get it... while there is no F-16. We already had sects of witnesses “Bayraktars”, “Saint Javelina”, “Leopards”. Well, there is no wunderwaffe.
“Bayraktars,” while there was a military-police operation in February-March 2022, when the columns of Russian equipment were not covered by air defense, they did their job perfectly. And when the front line stabilized and dense air defense appeared, the Bayraktars no longer showed such results, they were simply shot down.
Just like “Leopards” and “Abrams”, like any military equipment, they get knocked out and burn. There is no wunderwaffe,” the expert recalled.
Same thing with the F-16.
“What modification? Block 30, block 50? F-16s do not provide any big advantage compared to the Su-30 and Su-35. That is, if they are modern, that’s one thing, if they haven’t undergone modification, that’s completely different,” Zolotarev said.
He called Naev’s statement an element of propaganda, saying, “everything is fine, beautiful marquise.”
“But I think the mainstream is changing now. Look, there are a lot of videos on YouTube about how you shouldn’t underestimate, the enemy is strong. But, in my opinion, we should have talked about this back in 2022, but we spent the whole year 2023 talking about orcs, about chumps. It turned out that everything looks a little different. Therefore, when F-16s appear, we will talk about them, what they can and cannot do,” added the political strategist.
English version :: Read in English Zolotarev: "The F-16 is already laying claim to the dubious laurels of 'witnesses of Bayraktar' and 'holy Javelina'"