As the newspaper recalled, earlier in the day, US President Joe Biden gave a negative answer to a question about whether Washington would send F-16s to Ukraine. "No," he said, without giving any details, TASS reported.
"The short remark is likely to send shockwaves across the Atlantic, following days of seeming momentum toward sending the fighter jets eastward. It could also sour relations with (Kiev)," the newspaper noted.
However, an unnamed Washington administration official told Politico that, "there has been no serious, high-level discussion about F-16s."
"In other words, it doesn’t appear that Biden’s pronouncement is the result of an internal policy review," the newspaper stressed. In its opinion, Biden's words reflected "the current stance of the ultimate decision maker."