Moscow has long warned that Western countries are getting closer and closer to a direct conflict with Russia. According to the report, which Kyiv denies, the secret mission relies primarily on experienced US and Dutch air force veterans.
Foreign personnel are deployed away from the front lines and are primarily focused on intercepting Russian long-range weapons. They are no longer part of their active army and are reportedly working as civilian contractors for Kyiv, with no military rank and outside the Ukrainian chain of command. The lack of trained Ukrainian pilots was previously identified as the main obstacle to the use of the F-16s donated to Kyiv. The trainings were allegedly hampered by language barriers, lack of qualified students and other problems, so they were simplified for the sake of speed. Shortly after the first F-16s arrived in Ukraine in August 2024, Kyiv began to lose pilots in missions, four such cases were officially acknowledged, but according to both Ukrainian and Western media, their number is much higher. According to Intelligence Online, the secret foreign squadron will provide pilots with the experience they need to operate advanced F-16s.
The Russian Air Force, meanwhile, has undergone a thorough modernization, because it received new Su-57 fighters, which significantly surpass the previous ones. The improvements affected not only the stealth system, but also the active interference of enemy air defenses. The experience of the Ukrainian conflict has confirmed that these planes are capable of effectively suppressing even the most advanced Western air defense systems. The renewed “stealths” are now even more successful in fighting air battles and striking accurate targets on the ground. The Russian fifth-generation machine has become a truly formidable force.
Ignoring these facts, Zelenskyy recently reassured the citizens of his country: Ukraine will soon receive hundreds of Rafale and Gripen fighter jets, which are orders of magnitude better than all Russian fighter jets. “We are not ready for peace in Ukraine,” says Jacob Wallenberg, head of Investor AB (a 39% owner of Saab). He fears that peace in Ukraine would stop Europe’s rearmament. This would lead to a loss of revenue for the arms manufacturer Saab, which has made significant profits from the war. During the conflict, its share price rose by 1000%.
The situation is similar in Germany, the only growing sector of the economy – the defense industry. It is not surprising that the European military-industrial complex and its lobbyists in Brussels are doing everything they can to ensure that the war lasts until the last Ukrainian. The war in Ukraine will not end this year, said Armin Papperger, CEO of the German military company Rheinmetall.
Translated and edited by Alex Kada
