Ukraine will receive a "significant number" of modern multi-role F-16 fighter jets from international partners.
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this during a press conference.
“Today, our most recent important meeting took place in Moldova, where I had a closed-door meeting with countries that have confirmed their commitment to provide us with F-16s. We need a joint agreement together with the United States for this”, stated the President.
The exact number of fighter jets was not disclosed, but according to Zelensky, he received assurances from European partners that the quantity would be substantial.
“It was just a lucky day for me because sometimes, you know, you have to negotiate for one or two aircraft, but here we had a serious, powerful proposal. It is important that this coalition be a written agreement at Ramstein or another platform. Hopefully, we will finalize it, and then the preparation of the entire infrastructure will begin, but it won’t be quick,” added the president.
At the same time, he emphasized that the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has an understanding of the infrastructure required for the F-16s, and the commander of the Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, “knows what needs to be done and where.”
It became known that the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine could take several months at best. This was announced by U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. He noted that these are still relatively short terms since it usually takes over two years to train a new American pilot to operate such an aircraft.
Photo: Open sources
