News reports this week quoted anonymous sources from the US and Ukraine that the first six F-16 jets had been supplied by the Netherlands to the war-torn country and that more were expected to be supplied by Denmark.

Video footage apparently showing F-16s flying above Ukraine have been doing the rounds. It is thought that the Ukrainian air force will be supplied with 20 of the jets this year of a total of 80 pledged by Kyiv’s western allies. Ukrainian officials have said that the country will need at least 300 warplanes including 130 F-16s in order to achieve an adequate air defence.

Whether the new arrivals are too little and too late remains to be seen. Russian troops continue to make steady advances, particularly in areas around Donetsk as their summer offensive gets properly underway.

The key Russian objective appears to be a city called Pokrovsk, about 70km west of Donetsk, which – as Dara Massicot of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said on X (formerly Twitter) on July 31 – is a “very critical node in that region and if they take it then they get control over critical routes and then the whole region there in Donetsk is at risk”.

Since Vladimir Putin sent his war machine into Ukraine on February 24 2022, The Conversation has called upon some of the leading experts in international security, geopolitics and military tactics to help our readers understand the big issues. You can also subscribe to our fortnightly recap of expert analysis of the conflict in Ukraine.

There have been reports from the Institute for the Study of War of at least five mechanised assaults, which are at present being resisted by Ukrainian units.

Meanwhile Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky is still desperately trying to persuade Ukraine’s western allies to give him permission to use their longer-range missiles against targets inside Russia. This would deny Ukraine’s enemy the luxury of being able to launch air attacks and bombard the country at will and without........

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