Anatol: The amount of training required to get them functional, the length of runways you would need is huge. So how much difference could it make in the air war at the moment given those limitations? Well, at the moment, very little and in the short term obviously. But if, as Rajan has suggested, this is going to be a long war then over time, the Ukrainians can be trained and can adapt their infrastructure to use these weapons.
As the war in Ukraine reaches its one year anniversary, there is still no clear end in sight. And while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy anticipates Russia’s spring offensive, he’s been clear in asking the West for one thing - fighter jets. On this episode of the podcast defence expert Rajan Menon and policy expert Anatol Lieven discuss how crucial jets could be for Ukraine’s defence, what the western countries’ national interest is in giving them, and whether support for Ukraine in this war could wane as time goes on. Our host for this episode is The Sunday Times Special Correspondent, Josh Glancy.
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