Ukraine will receive F-16 fighters as soon as pilots return from training – foreign minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba announced that Ukraine will receive F-16 aircraft as soon as Ukrainian pilots complete their training. In his words, this is a "synchronized process."

"I think that the Ukrainian pilots will return from training, and the planes will also come with them," the Ukrainian diplomacy chief told journalists on the air of the morning TV show. "Maybe they won't arrive directly in the cockpits, but it will be a synchronized process."

He said that this week President Volodymyr Zelensky had daily meetings and conversations about speeding up this process.

"I will say diplomatically: I think there will be good news soon," said the minister, adding that providing F-16 fighters is a technical, not a political, issue. 

"This is a matter of pilot training, engineer training, infrastructure preparation, and, in fact, the transfer of jets," the minister added.

What we know about Ukrainian pilots training on F-16 fighters

Ukraine's partners discussed providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets during the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (Ramstein format) in June. Later, it was revealed that partners plan to approve the training program for Ukrainian pilots, engineers, and technicians on F-16 fighter jets by July. The training itself will take place in a specially created center in one of the European countries.

Politico says Western F-16 fighter jets may be delivered to Ukraine in early 2024. Earlier, the prime ministers of the Netherlands and Great Britain agreed to work on forming an international coalition of fighter jets for Ukraine. Denmark joined them.

In early June, Air Force spokesperson Colonel Yurii Ihnat announced that Kyiv had selected the first groups of Ukrainian pilots for training in Britain.

On July 6, Romania's Supreme Council of National Defense discussed a project to create a pilot training center in the country to operate F-16 fighter jets, which NATO members and allied countries would use.

Volodymyr Zelensky announced that military training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on American F-16 fighter jets will begin in August.

However, the Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said that Ukraine could not receive F-16 fighter jets from the allies in the coming fall or winter: now it is necessary to strengthen air defense.