Biden Says Zelenskyy Gave ‘Flat Assurance’ He Won’t Use F-16s in Russia

U.S. President Joe Biden (L) walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of a working session on Ukraine during the G-7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden said on May 21 that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally assured him that Ukraine wouldn’t use Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets in Russian territory.

“I have a flat assurance from Zelenskyy that they will not use [the F-16s] to go on and move into Russian geographic territory,” Biden said at a press conference in Japan. “But wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine in the area, they would be able to do that.”