Is the F-16 Jet a Game-Changer?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 5 September 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Why has President Zelensky lobbied Western powers for the F-16? What are the challenges in getting them deployed? And could they shift the balance in the war for Ukraine’s skies?
To discuss this we’re joined by Dan ‘Two-Dogs’ Hampton, a retired US Air Force pilot who has flown 151 combat missions in the F-16.
Also, the Guardian’s Emma Graham-Harrison and the BBC’s James Waterhouse discuss the dismissal of Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Gabriel Gatehouse. The producers were Clare Williamson, Arsenii Sokolov and Sam McLaren. The technical producers were Antonio Fernandes and Emma Crowe. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480.
You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord.
TOPICS:
00:05 - Why might Putin meet Kim Jong Un? 03:14 - Reaction to the dismissal of Ukraine's defence minister 14:32 - Are F-16 fighter jets a game-changer? 26:59 - Draft dodgers in Ukraine's army
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.4 | Hello, it's 559 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and overnight |
| 0:10.7 | US officials said the North Korean leader Kim Yong-on is planning to travel to Russia |
| 0:16.9 | to sell weapons to the Kremlin. |
| 0:18.9 | Yeah, Vic, so this is quite a big deal, but I think this would be the first visit by the |
| 0:25.4 | North Korean leader abroad since COVID, and he's kind of basically locked himself down |
| 0:30.8 | they think he's going to Vladivostok, which is an amazing place, by the way. |
| 0:35.0 | It's in the far east of Russia, it's just you could basically drive north out of North |
| 0:38.6 | Korea and you get to Vladivostok, and it used to be a closed city, it was a military |
| 0:42.8 | base in Soviet times, and it's very hilly, it's a bit like San Francisco in that way. |
| 0:48.0 | This visit and information about this visit hasn't been confirmed by either the Russians |
| 0:52.3 | or the North Koreans, it's been leaked by US intelligence. |
| 0:56.1 | Why is US intelligence leaking this? |
| 0:57.6 | I think that they're putting this out there to try to scare the North Koreans off. |
| 1:02.4 | They're trying to say to the North Koreans, don't sell any weapons to the Russians for |
| 1:06.2 | use in their war in Ukraine, or else we'll slap some more sanctions on you, and that |
| 1:10.1 | the North Koreans are currently struggling with that, they're struggling to feed their |
| 1:15.2 | population, let alone feed their own military industrial complex. |
| 1:19.9 | If this visit does go ahead, it'll be quite transactional, right? |
| 1:23.8 | I'll be looking for quid pro quo, the Russians need artillery, and the North Koreans desperately |
| 1:29.8 | need money. |
| 1:31.8 | When Kim Jong-un went there in 2019, there are some quite odd videos, three odd videos of |
... |
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