Ukrainian fighter pilots trained to fly F-16s
Ukrainian fighter pilots are being trained to fly F-16 planes, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg revealed on Thursday. He arrived in Brussels at a meeting of defense ministers from the North Atlantic Alliance, reports Hotnews.ro.
The NATO allies have yet to reach an agreement on the delivery of so-called fourth-generation US fighter jets to Ukraine, but Jens Stoltenberg said training of Ukrainian personnel was underway.
"The fact that training has started gives us the option to also decide to deliver the planes and then the pilots will be ready to fly them," Stoltenberg said.
As recently as February, US President Joe Biden had rejected Ukrainian requests for the delivery of fighter jets, although Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine's president, had made firm commitments that the planes would only be used to target Russian forces in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark will supply Ukraine with "high priority" air defense equipment, the four states announced on Thursday in a joint statement sent before the meeting of the Contact Group for the defense of Ukraine convened in Brussels. Hundreds of short- and medium-range air defense missiles and associated systems are included in the initiative, according to CNN. The delivery of the equipment has started and "should be completed in a few weeks", the four countries said.
