General Petraeus: Speed Up Delivery of Fighter Jets to Ukraine

The United States must speed up its delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine and send long-range missiles to Kyiv, and Washington and allies have to “get past” the attempts being made to block aid for the European country, says retired four-star Gen. David Petraeus, the leader of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“I hope that … the US will provide the Army Tactical Missile System, which would double the range of what we have provided, and I hope that the aircraft can get into the arsenal sooner than is currently projected as well,” Petraeus said in an interview with The Telegraph while speaking about F-16s that Denmark and the Netherlands promised Kyiv. 

Further, he said that the United States must stop its opposition to sending the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) which have a range of almost 200 miles, and called on other nations’ leaders to increase their supplies of long-range weapons. 

His comments come as Ukraine inches closer to breaking through the Russian defensive system. 

Petraeus, the commander of the surge of U.S. troops into Iraq in 2007, said Kyiv could “change the dynamics” of the war if it can cut the land bridge established between the Crimean Peninsula and occupied territory.

However, he accused Washington of keeping that from happening with its indecision on weapons such as the ATACMS, which can be fired from the HIMARS system that has been supplied to Ukraine. 

In recent weeks, Kyiv’s forces have been using British and French-donated Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles to attack Russian positions behind the frontlines while disrupting Moscow’s logistics chain.

Ukraine has been ramping up calls for F-16s, but Washington, holding export licenses for the aircraft, has just recently sanctioned the donations, so the jets won’t arrive in Ukraine before next year. 

Petraeus, meanwhile, also urged Sweden to commit to offering Kyiv its Gripen jets, as they are better suited for Ukraine’s rough airstrips. 

Meanwhile, Petraeus, who wrote the U.S. Army’s counterinsurgency field manual, said that the “most significant” question will determine whether Russian defenses will crumble if Ukraine can break the main lines, but he warned that Kyiv’s troops are against an enemy that has “demonstrated excellence” to stop the counteroffensive.