It’s basically impossible to keep something like this a secret. The pilots have been in training a long time and they’re not just sending planes, but also the means to maintain them.
Besides there are dangers in keeping it secret. Having F-16s suddenly doing attack runs on the Russian military out of nowhere could result in the Kremlin coming to the wrong conclusions.
So much for being secretive about it unless this is a diversion.
It’s basically impossible to keep something like this a secret. The pilots have been in training a long time and they’re not just sending planes, but also the means to maintain them.
Besides there are dangers in keeping it secret. Having F-16s suddenly doing attack runs on the Russian military out of nowhere could result in the Kremlin coming to the wrong conclusions.
This isn’t lost on me, but other articles have mentioned that Ukraine has been requesting countries not announce things related to F-16 arrivals.
It’s a general opsec principle, yes everyone else might know what you’re doing but why hand them info for free?
It’s not the easiest thing to hide. They look very distinctive and make a lot of noise.