Ukraine minister says warplanes on the way

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov says Russia will launch a major offensive in the coming weeks, but Ukraine has the soldiers and resources to repel such an attack.

Ukraine’s allies will agree to provide fighter aircraft to battle Russian forces, the defence minister said, despite recent comments by Western leaders that warplanes would not be forthcoming.

Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov also told a news conference on Sunday that Russia will launch a major offensive in the coming weeks, but Ukraine has the soldiers and resources to repel such an attack.

So far Ukraine has won support from Baltic nations and Poland in its quest to obtain Western fighter jets. But several Western leaders have expressed concern that providing warplanes could provoke the Kremlin and draw their countries deeper into the conflict, which has cost tens of thousands of lives and wreaked massive destruction.

Kyiv says such jets are essential to challenging Russia’s air superiority and ensuring success in a Russian offensive that Reznikov predicted could begin around the war’s one-year anniversary, February 24.

“Not all Western weapons will arrive by then, but we have the resources and reserves to help stabilise and sustain the offensive,” Reznikov told reporters.