In the final steps on the road to bringing F-16 fighters into Ukraine’s arms in its war against Russia, Poland said on Tuesday it was ready to train Ukrainian pilots on these manufactured fighters. American, after the United States gave the green light.
Polish preparation details
“We are ready to train pilots to use the F-16 fighters, but this training has not started yet,” Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said. Plashchak’s statement came after a meeting of European defense ministers in Brussels devoted to military support for Ukraine, according to Agence France Presse. Earlier, the head of foreign policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, confirmed that the training had already started in this country. It does not depend on Poland, many other countries intend to participate in this training.
Other countries are ready
Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Olungren told the meeting that a coalition of Western European countries supporting Kiev were considering the possibility of starting training Ukrainian pilots on these fighters “as soon as possible”.
She explained, “We start with the exercises first. Securing the fighters will be the next step,” noting, “This is a joint effort with Denmark, Belgium, the UK and other allies. And we’re going to speed it up now that we have the green light” from Washington.
Aircraft delivery is expected to be complex. The Dutch minister pointed out that “the UK does not have F-16 fighters”.
Countries outside of the game will not participate
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stressed that Berlin’s involvement “is irrelevant because we simply don’t have F-16s and can’t help with pilot training.” Sweden, Latvia and Estonia have also announced that they do not have these planes. These planes could be supplied to Kyiv by other EU countries which have not yet made an announcement.
American green light
US President Joe Biden agreed to the request of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to obtain these fighters at the G7 meeting in Japan at the end of last week.
Biden stressed that the Ukrainians will use these fighters against Russian forces on Ukrainian lands and will not attack Russian lands.
It was seen as a major shift in Western support for Kiev, and Zelenskyy called it historic.
Delivery of these aircraft via another country is subject to prior approval from Washington, as it is considered US military technology.
Biden said American fighter jets would make a difference in the fight.
Read the Latest World News Today on The Eastern Herald.
