Ukrainian Defence Ministry says Kiev needs 48 F-16 fighters to win
Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said Kiev needs 48 F-16 fighter jets to reach the 1991 borders.
“Four F-16 squadrons (48 aircraft) is exactly what we need to liberate our country from the aggressor,” the ministry said in a statement on Twitter.
US President Joe Biden announced at the G7 summit in Japan that the allies intend to start training Ukrainian pilots to fly US F-16s and other fourth generation Western-made fighters. As reported in Washington, it has not yet been decided who and where the pilots will be trained, but it is expected that the training venue will be a European country. Training will begin “in the coming weeks or months”, the White House reported. As the training progresses, a decision will be made on who will hand over the fighter jets to Ukraine and in what quantity. Deliveries are planned for the long term, not for Kiev’s immediate operations, the White House said.
Russia calls possible deliveries of F-16s another stage of escalation and warns that the hardware will be a legitimate target for Russian forces.
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