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[text/ruan jiaqi, observer network]

on the 30th local time, the us media "wall street journal" quoted us officials as saying that for security reasons, the biden administration rejected the proposal to send us contractors to ukraine to maintain western military equipment including f-16 fighter jets. the report said that european countries are expected to intervene to provide maintenance and personnel support for us-made aircraft and other western-aided weapons to ukraine.

according to the wall street journal, this american-designed aircraft is one of the most iconic jet fighters of the u.s. air force and requires an extremely high level of maintenance. typically, each fighter is equipped with dozens of logistics support personnel. all countries, including the united states, rely to some extent on private companies and their personnel to help maintain such complex fighters. without private contractors to provide maintenance services for the aircraft, including repairs and replacement of parts, ukraine will find it difficult to keep these western-provided aircraft operational.

the report also mentioned that ukrainians have been struggling to maintain other weapons donated by the united states in the past. most of the maintenance work was completed by ukraine through video conference calls with foreign maintenance experts, or the equipment was shipped abroad for repair, which resulted in the weapons being unable to be put back into use.

on august 4, local time, ukraine received the first batch of us-made f-16 fighter jets, and ukrainian president zelensky delivered a speech. visual china

at the end of july, the first six of the 80 f-16s promised by the west arrived in ukraine. but the proposal to send american civilian contractors to ukraine to maintain the f-16s and other military weapons has always been pending.

the national security council studied the idea, but the intelligence community and others decided it was too risky, according to u.s. officials familiar with the matter. instead, they wanted european countries to take more or even all responsibility for maintaining the f-16s.

"the intelligence community has expressed concern that russia may be targeting u.s. contractors in ukraine," a u.s. official said.

in response, sean savett, the chief spokesman for the national security council, said in a statement: "this is something we are considering, but no decision has been made."

the wall street journal believes that this means that american contractors will not go to ukraine soon, but the biden administration has not ruled out the possibility of sending american contractors to ukraine in the future.

the report also stated that although some u.s. officials support sending american contractors to ukraine, the biden administration is concerned that the pentagon lacks adequate response plans if these people are attacked. currently, there is only a small team of diplomats, military personnel and other government contractors at the u.s. embassy in kiev.

"it appears that sending american civilians (to ukraine) to maintain american-made equipment is still a red line for the us department of defense," the report pointed out.

shortly before the us media broke the news, the ukrainian military confirmed on the evening of the 29th that an f-16 assisted by western allies crashed while repelling a russian missile attack, killing a ukrainian ace pilot who was flying the aircraft. this incident surprised western public opinion, and it was only a few weeks after the first batch of f-16s arrived in ukraine.

soon, ukrainian president zelensky dismissed ukrainian air force commander olshuk from his post, but did not give a specific reason. ukrainian defense minister umerov denied that the dismissal order was related to the f-16 crash.

however, the associated press noted that on the day he was fired, oleschuk had an argument with a ukrainian lawmaker. after the other party claimed that the f-16 in question was shot down by the "patriot" anti-missile system provided by the united states to ukraine, oleschuk blasted him for slandering the ukrainian air force and undermining the credibility of american weapons manufacturers.

file photo: the dismissed ukrainian air force commander mykola oleschuk

the wall street journal pointed out in another report on the 30th that ukraine has a small number of f-16 fighter jets, and the destruction of one of them, coupled with the loss of an ace pilot, is a major blow to kiev.

the article mentioned that ukraine had been begging for months before the united states allowed european countries to provide ukraine with f-16 fighter jets last year. kiev hopes that advanced western fighter jets will give its army an advantage on the battlefield, especially by shooting down incoming russian missiles and helping to protect frontline troops. however, many of the f-16s ukraine received were second-hand and had been in service for decades, and these fighter jets themselves were vulnerable to russian air defense missiles, making them "high-value attack targets" for the russian military.

cnn, forbes and other websites also believe that the loss of an ace pilot is a greater loss for ukraine than the crash of a fighter jet. ukraine currently has only a handful of pilots who can fly f-16 fighter jets, and the ukrainian pilot who died was one of the few pilots who had received training to fly f-16s.

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