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F-16 fighter jets arrive in Ukraine that Zelenskyy says will boost fight against Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the newly arrived F-16 fight jets will boost the country’s war effort against Russia.
Two F-16 fighter jets, sporting Ukraine’s trident insignia on their tails and draped in camouflage netting, were a dramatic background for Zelenskyy’s address to Armed Forces Day.
“These jets are in our sky and today you see them,” said Zelenskyy, standing in front of two of the fighter jets as two others flew overhead in close formation. “It’s good that they are here and that we can put them to use.”
Efrem Lukatsky / AP
“Since the beginning of this war, we have been talking with our partners about the need to protect our Ukrainian skies from Russian missiles and Russian aircraft,” Zelenskyy said. “Now we have a new reality in our skies. The F-16s are in Ukraine. We made it happen. I am proud of our guys who are mastering these aircraft and have already started using them for our country. … Our combat aviation will bring us closer to victory.”
Ukraine is also trying to get neighboring countries to help defend it against Russian missiles, Zelenskyy said.
“This decision is probably a difficult one for our partners, as they are always afraid of unnecessary escalation,” said Ukraine’s president. “We will work on this … I think we have a good option of a NATO-Ukraine council … so that NATO countries could talk to Ukraine about the possibility of a small coalition of neighboring countries that would shoot down enemy missiles.”
Ukraine may keep some of the F-16 fighter jets at foreign bases to protect them from Russian strikes, according to a senior Ukrainian military official. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow could consider launching strikes at facilities in NATO countries if they host the warplanes used in Ukraine.
Efrem Lukatsky / AP
The American-made F-16 is an iconic fighter jet that’s been the front-line combat plane of choice for the NATO alliance and numerous air forces around the world for 50 years.
Although new to Ukraine, the F-16s are older jets that have been donated by Western allies. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 of them over the coming months in what could be a slow trickle of deliveries. Zelenskyy did not say how many F-16s have arrived in Ukraine or which countries they came from.
U.S. President Biden gave the go-ahead in August 2023 for used F-16s to be deployed to Ukraine, though the U.S. won’t be providing any of its own planes.
The F-16s will boost Ukraine’s military strength, especially by upgrading its air defenses. But analysts say they won’t turn the tide of the war on their own.
Russia is making small but steady battlefield gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and its steady forward movement is adding up as Ukraine gradually yields ground.
At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals and residents were urged to shelter in place on Tuesday after an explosion at a Louisville, Kentucky, business.
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services reported on social media a “hazardous materials incident” at 1901 Payne St., in Louisville. The address belongs to a facility operated by Givaudan Sense Colour, a manufacturer of food colorings for soft drinks and other products, according to officials and online records.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said emergency teams responded to the blast around 3 p.m. News outlets reported that neighbors heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the business. Overhead news video footage showed an industrial building with a large hole in its roof.
WLKY-TV
“The cause at this point of the explosion is unknown,” Greenberg said in a news conference. No one died in the explosion, he added.
Greenberg said officials spoke to employees inside the plant. “They have initially conveyed that everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred,” he said.
The Louisville Fire Department said in a post on the social platform X that multiple agencies were responding to a “large-scale incident.”
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services first urged people within a mile of the business to shelter in place, but that order was lifted in the afternoon. An evacuation order for the two surrounding blocks around the site of the explosion was still in place Tuesday afternoon.
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A rare square 37-carat emerald owned by the Aga Khan fetched nearly $9 million at auction in Geneva on Tuesday, making it the world’s most expensive green stone.
Sold by Christie’s, the Cartier diamond and emerald brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, dethrones a piece of jewelry made by the fashion house Bulgari, which Richard Burton gave as a wedding gift to fellow actor Elizabeth Taylor, as the most precious emerald.
In 1960, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan commissioned Cartier to set the emerald in a brooch with 20 marquise-cut diamonds for British socialite Nina Dyer, to whom he was briefly married.
Dyer then auctioned off the emerald to raise money for animals in 1969.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
By chance that was Christie’s very first such sale in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva, with the emerald finding its way back to the 110th edition this year.
It was bought by jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels before passing a few years later into the hands of Harry Winston, nicknamed the “King of Diamonds.”
“Emeralds are hot right now, and this one ticks all the boxes,” said Christie’s EMEA Head of Jewellery Max Fawcett. “…We might see an emerald of this quality come up for sale once every five or six years.”
Also set with diamonds, the previous record-holder fetched $6.5 million at an auction of part of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned jewelry collection in New York.
