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Anderson Cooper interviews Ukrainian fighter pilot on standby between attacks
On Anderson Cooper 360 Monday, Cooper interviewed Juice, a Ukrainian fighter pilot on standby who wore his gear and went only by his call sign to protect his identity. Juice said that while Russia is clinging on to air superiority at the moment, casualties are mounting. “Russians have a lot of loss — losses, and they have a fear of our air defense,” Juice said. “So they couldn’t fly here just comfortable for them.” The U.S. is continuing to supply Ukraine with multiple defense systems, but has stopped the transfer of fighter jets from Poland that would find their way to Ukraine only after going through a U.S. air base in Germany. Juice said they need more planes if they are to take control of the skies. “We need efficient ground air defense systems,” Juice said, “and we need some other fighter jets to gain the air superiority to fight effectively against these threats.” And Juice said that he and others are ready to fight the continued Russian war of aggression, but reiterated the need for more supplies. “All of us are ready to fight, just with our jets, with our guns, even just in the fields with rifles,” Juice said. “So our people, including me, we are ready to fight Russians, and we are ready to defend our country, to defend our people in absolutely any ways. But we need tools, effective tools, to do this efficiently.”