The latest rift among Ukraine’s allies is whether to send F-16s

Biden administration issuing re-export licenses to European militaries, enabling them to transfer their F-16s to Ukraine. Later Tuesday, after Britain and the Netherlands announced their socalled “fighter coalition,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Dutch foreign minister, Wopke Hoekstra, spoke by phone to discuss Ukraine and other issues.

Hoekstra said Wednesday that “we haven’t reached a solution yet” in what another senior European diplomat described as a slow-moving and difficult discussion.

“When we are ready to cross that bridge and are ready to communicate this, we will,” Hoekstra said.

Gobierno de Puerto Rico DEPARTAMENTO DE RECURSOS NATURALES Y AMBIENTALES

By LARA JAKES and ERIC SCHMITT

Afresh push by Britain and the Netherlands to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter planes has exposed the latest fault line among Western allies who have wrangled repeatedly over sending powerful weapons of war, once again pitting a reluctant United States against some of its closest European partners.

Several European allies are prepared to give their F-16s to Ukraine. But the Biden administration, which must approve any transfers of the U.S.-made planes, remains unconvinced that Ukraine needs the expensive jets, which are a staple of many modern military arsenals.

So deep is Washington’s skepticism that Ukraine’s pilots are currently not even allowed to train on the F-16s that are owned by European states, according to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity to frankly discuss the sensitive diplomatic issue.

American reluctance to allow training would severely limit a proposed new European coalition to help Ukraine obtain and fly F-16s — whether in the current conflict or to protect against any future aggressions by Moscow after the West turns its focus from the 15-month war.

“What’s really important here is to signal to Russia that we as nations have no philosophical or principled objection to supplying Ukraine capabilities that it needs, depending on what is going on in the battlefield,” the British defense minister, Ben Wallace, said Wednesday in Berlin. He added: “This is up to the White House to decide whether it wants to release that technology.”

In Washington, a senior U.S. official said the Biden administration was still reluctant to send Ukraine its own F-16s, in part because the plane’s multimillion-dollar price tag would absorb too much of an already-dwindling pot of war funding. Instead, the U.S. official said, the administration is more concerned with speeding other U.S. weapons to Ukraine in time for a counteroffensive against Russia, and that in any case the jets would not reach the battlefield for months at least — presumably, long after that battle had begun.

The U.S. official also spoke on condition of anonymity, as did four other senior Western officials in Washington and Europe who were interviewed for this story.

This would not be the first time the Biden administration had resisted allied demands to send more powerful and sophisticated weaponry to Ukraine. In each case it eventually reversed itself, allowing the transfer of powerful HIMARS missile launchers, Abrams tanks and Patriot air defense missiles.

And the U.S. official did not rule out the possibility of the

The Netherlands is one of four European countries that the senior Ukrainian official said have quietly signaled they are ready to send F-16s to Ukraine. Its fleet, along with those of Denmark and Belgium, could provide at least 125 combat-ready F-16s, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British think tank that assesses military stockpiles globally. Norway, which retired its unspecified number of F-16s last year in a switch to the more advanced F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, is also ready to contribute, the Ukrainian official said.

Ukraine is asking — for now, at least — for only between 24 and 36, the official said.

Earlier this week, the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said the United Kingdom would begin training Ukrainian pilots, starting this summer, as part of a plan “with other countries on providing F-16 jets.” His announcement, wrapped in a new package of military aid, came during a visit to London by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine.

Without explicit U.S. approvals, however, the training is likely to be limited to what the senior Ukrainian official described as merely technical language and tactical lessons that pilots would be taught, without ever touching an F-16.

With its powerful radar that can spot targets from hundreds of miles away and modern missiles, the F-16 contains classified and other highly restricted systems that the United States does not want duplicated or falling into hostile hands. It is among classes of weapons for which even allies must gain “releasability” permission from the Pentagon just to discuss the technology with outside partners, like Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official said.

Douglas Barrie, an IISS military expert, said it would be surprising if the Biden administration had not given “at least some kind of tacit nod and a wink” of approval for the European plan to help procure F-16s for Ukraine, and train its pilots, before moving ahead.

He said the fighter jets could play a key role in defending Ukraine, including “to continue to deny the Russians the kind of air superiority they have failed to establish.” Whether the F-16s might be used to attack Russian positions will depend on what kinds of specific weapons packages Western allies agree to equip them with.

But Ukrainian officials say they are more worried about a different kind of diversion — that of Western support as war fatigue sets in and funding dries up. They are concerned particularly with the United States, where some Republicans, including candidates in next year’s presidential election, are already questioning how much more support the country should give.

That may also be on the minds of a group of 14 Democrats and Republicans in Congress who Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to unlock the F-16s without delay.

El peticionario, Sr. Efraín González Caro, cuya dirección postal es PO Box 781 Hormigueros Puerto Rico 00660, ha solicitado al Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA) la renovación del Permiso de Operación para un sistema de inyección subterránea (SIS) Clase VCI, bajo las disposiciones del Reglamento para el Control de la Inyección Subterránea (RCIS), y la Ley Federal de Agua Potable Segura, según enmendada 42 USC 300f et seq. (LFAPS).

El SIS 001 consiste de cuatro (4) tanques sépticos de 6 pies y 2 pulgadas de ancho por 12 pies y dos pulgadas de largo por 9 pies de profundidad líquida cada uno, con una capacidad de 4,894 galones cada uno, diez (10) lechos de percolación con “infiltrators”, nueve (9) de 100 pies de largo por 20 pies de ancho, cada uno y uno (1) de 29 pies de largo por 20 pies de ancho, con un área de percolación total de 18,580 pies cuadrados, para la disposición de aguas sanitarias provenientes de setenta (70) residencias del proyecto Urbanización Colinas del Mar. El referido SIS, está ubicado en la Carretera PR-102, Km 17.6, Bo. Miradero, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.

Luego de realizada la evaluación correspondiente de los documentos sometidos, el DRNA tiene la intención de emitir la renovación del Permiso de Operación para la instalación antes indicada, en conformidad con los requisitos del RCIS y de la LFAPS. Esta notificación se hace para informar que el DRNA, ha preparado el borrador del permiso de forma tal que el público interesado pueda someter sus comentarios con relación al mismo. El permiso contiene las condiciones y prohibiciones necesarias para cumplir con los requisitos reglamentarios aplicables. El público puede evaluar copia de la solicitud de permiso que sometió el peticionario ante el DRNA, el borrador del permiso y otros documentos relevantes en la Oficina Central del DRNA. Copias de dichos documentos pueden adquirirse en la Oficina de Secretaría localizada en el Edificio de Agencias Ambientales Cruz A. Matos, Urbanización San José Industrial Park, Ave. Ponce de León 1375, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00910 o en la ORM, entre las 8:00 am y las 4:00 pm de lunes a viernes o escribiendo a la dirección: Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales, PO Box 11488, San Juan, PR 00910.

Las partes interesadas o afectadas pueden enviar sus comentarios o solicitar una vista pública por escrito al Gerente del Área de Calidad de Agua, Director de la ORM y a la Secretaria del DRNA, respectivamente, a la dirección indicada.

Los comentarios por escrito o la solicitud de vistas públicas deberán ser sometidos a la DRNA, no más tarde de treinta (30) días a partir de la fecha de publicación de este aviso. La fecha límite para someter comentarios puede ser extendida si se estima necesario o apropiado para el interés público. La solicitud para una vista pública deberá señalar la razón o las razones que en la opinión del solicitante ameritan la celebración de la misma. De realizarse una vista pública los interesados o afectados tendrán una oportunidad razonable para presentar evidencia o testimonio sobre si se emiten o deniegan los permisos, si la Secretaria determina dicha vista es necesaria o apropiada.

Anaís Rodríguez Vega Secretaria