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[global times reporter zhang xiaoya] the wall street journal quoted u.s. officials on august 30 local time as saying that for security reasons, the biden administration rejected a proposal to send u.s. 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 u.s.-made aircraft and other weapons sent to ukraine.

the wall street journal said that the biden administration rejected the plan to send americans to ukraine to maintain f-16 fighter jets. the picture is from the wall street journal's social platform report.

the wall street journal reported that according to us officials familiar with the matter, the us national security council studied the proposal to send civilian contractors to ukraine to maintain f-16 fighter jets and other military weapons, but the intelligence community believed that the move was too risky and therefore hoped that european countries would assume more maintenance responsibilities.

russia's sputnik news agency said, however, that the wall street journal also said that the us government does not rule out the possibility of sending us contractors to ukraine in the future.

not long before the us media broke the news, the global times reported that the ukrainian military confirmed on august 29 that an f-16 fighter jet assisted by western allies crashed while performing a counter-russian mission, killing a ukrainian ace pilot who was flying the plane. this incident surprised western public opinion, as it was only a few weeks after the first batch of f-16 fighter jets arrived in ukraine. ukraine is currently believed to have 6 f-16 fighter jets.

the wall street journal said that the crash of one of ukraine's few f-16 fighter jets and the death of a well-known pilot were a heavy blow to ukraine. ukraine has always hoped that advanced western fighter jets can give the ukrainian army an advantage on the battlefield, especially to shoot down russian missiles and provide protection for front-line troops. however, many of the f-16 fighter jets received by ukraine are second-hand and have a flying history of decades. these fighter jets themselves may be attacked by russian air defense missiles and are "high-value attack targets."

the us website forbes commented that the death of an ace pilot was a greater loss than the plane crash. ukraine currently has only a handful of pilots who can fly f-16 fighter jets. on the 30th, many media published articles analyzing the cause of the crash of the ukrainian f-16, with pilot operating errors and mechanical failures being highlighted. the ukrainian military stressed that the fighter jet "was not hit by an enemy missile." there are also reports that the fighter jet was shot down by the patriot anti-missile system provided by the united states to ukraine.