then the ukrainians. argue and i think persuasively that they should be able to fire back. they, however, have not used western weapons. and i just want to touch on nato s expansion. turkey is, of course, very reticent for sweden to join. turkey is also asking congress the us congress for its own f 16fighterjets. should that request be tied to accepting sweden s membership? yes, absolutely. there s no reason for the turks to hold up the swedes. if the turks have recognised that their use of russian weapons and they ve got some anti aircraft weapons from the russians, which makes no sense in a nato nation. so, yes, we do have some leverage over the turks and the turks want those f 16s, we want the swedes into nato. and in the end, i think the turks will allow that to happen. and very briefly, ambassador, looking to the future
in russia that are firing at ukrainian targets, then the ukrainians. argue and i think persuasively that they should be able to fire back. they, however, have not used western weapons. and i just want to touch on nato s expansion. turkey is, of course, very reticent for sweden to join. turkey is also asking congress the us congress for its own f 16fighterjets. should that request be tied to accepting sweden s membership? yes, absolutely. there s no reason for the turks to hold up the swedes. if the turks have recognised that their use of russian weapons and they ve got some anti aircraft weapons from the russians, which makes no sense in a nato nation. so, yes, we do have some leverage over the turks and the turks want those f 165, we want the swedes into nato. and in the end, i think the turks will allow that to happen.
to the far right extremism. now, this is a tiny group that no one has heard of until now, almost no one, and they don t represent the bulk of ukrainians or ukraine. but nevertheless, in the battle for pr, this is bad optics for ukraine. if some of them turn out to be linked to neo nazism orfascism, it reinforces the kremlin narrative that it s fighting this war to rid ukraine of neo nazis, and that s a bad look for ukraine. earlier, my colleague azadeh moshiri spoke with bill taylor, former us ambassador to ukraine and current vice president of europe and russia at the us institute of peace. ambassador taylor, thank you so much forjoining us. so first i want to start on belgorod. there are a lot of competing narratives. how do you make sense of it? it appears to me that these are russian citizens, they have been training and preparing in ukraine. there s no doubt about that. there s probably been some
in their preparations, in their strength, in their equipment, certainly in their morale. they are. they are ready. and it seems to me that the russians are probably at a low point in all of those things. their morale is terrible. their equipment is worn out. their people have been. decimated. the soldiers that they ve thrown into bakhmut have been just wiped out. so they. i think the russians are at a low point, the ukrainians are at a high point, so the ukrainians are optimistic that they can go now they can go very soon. so when it comes to equipment, though, president biden has actually reversed his earlier decision about training ukrainians on the f 16 jets, about allies providing that support. but, time and time again, we ve heard pentagon officials
certainly in their morale. they are. they are ready. and it seems to me that the russians are probably at a low point in all of those things. their morale is terrible. their equipment is worn out. their people have been. decimated. the soldiers that they ve thrown into bakhmut have been just wiped out. so they. i think the russians are at a low point, the ukrainians are at a high point, so the ukrainians are optimistic that they can go now they can go very soon. so when it comes to equipment, though, president biden has actually reversed his earlier decision about training ukrainians on the f 16 jets, about allies providing that support. but, time and time again, we ve heard pentagon officials and other officials say that it would take months, if not years, for ukrainian pilots to be able to operate these