A court in Moscow orders The Wall Street Journal reporter to be held in pre-trial detention for two months. Ukraine\u2019s Commander-in-Chief pushes for F-16 fighters. Yet Ukraine will not wait for Western aircraft to begin a counteroffensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the first such case in 37 years. The Lefortovsky court in Moscow on Thursday, March 30, formally arrested The Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, on charges of espionage and ordered him to be held until May 29 pending an investigation, the Russian state news agency TASS reported. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His case, according to TASS, is considered top secret. Gershkovich pleaded not guilty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service said Gershkovich, \u201cacting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders said he had gone to Yekaterinburg to cover Russian mercenary group Wagner. Yaroslav Shirshikov, a local who claimed he attended some of the meetings with Gershkovich, said the journalist was also writing about the attitude of people to Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Wall Street Journal said Gershkovich had dropped out of contact with his editors while working in Yekaterinburg. \u201cThe Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich,\u201d the Journal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine needs F-16 fighters, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said in a post on Facebook, which accompanied a video that featured Ukrainian service members speaking of Ukraine\u2019s resistance in the air that surprised Russia in the early days of the invasion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said their countries will not send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov is hopeful that the decision to supply Ukraine with advanced fighter jets will be made in one, two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On March 20, Chief of Aviation of Ukraine\u2019s Air Force General Serhiy Holubtsov said Ukrainian pilots can learn to fly western jets in less than six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAir superiority is essential to [enable Ukraine to conduct] a successful counteroffensive, but we will use the weapons we have right now,\u201d Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told a news conference Wednesday. Ukraine has remaining stocks of Soviet-made weapons and newly-supplied Western weapons, Reznikov added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is convinced that Ukraine will get Western fourth generation fighter jets. It will take time for the allies to make a decision to send the jets to Ukraine, and train the pilots and engineers who service the aircraft, Reznikov said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n