Jason Bellini
Poland, Slovakia become first NATO allies to give Ukraine fighter jets
The U.S. has turned down the request to send F-16 fighter jets multiple times.
LEARN MOREPosted: 9:05 p.m. EDT Apr 20, 2023
For Ukraine’s fighter jet pilots, the sky is limited. Fly too high and get shot down — hug the ground to survive.
"Karaya" — a 29-year-old who became famous for shooting down Russian suicide drones and preventing his crashing plane from hitting civilians — shared with Scripps News a trove of videos he recorded while out on sorties.
Given that Russian radar blankets the battlefields, Karaya says every mission to provide air support to troops on the ground carries enormous risk; his footage shows just how low he needs to go to get out alive.
He and his fellow pilots want the world to know how desperate they are to get an upgrade — to the F-16’s the U.S. still won’t agree to provide.
