Yuriy Ignat, an adviser to the command of the Air Armed Forces of Ukraine (VVSU), said on air of the Rada TV channel that Ukraine is not ready to receive and use F-16 fighter jets even if they were handed over by Western countries.
Yuriy Ignat recalled that Europe had said that it was ready to transfer aircraft to Ukraine and deploy them on the country’s territory. However, the adviser believes that this option is not suitable for Kiev.
According to him, the F-16 fighter jets are not individual aircraft, but entire aircraft complexes that require a certain infrastructure for maintenance, which Ukraine does not have. There are also no pilots trained to fly these aircraft.
“It is necessary to take a comprehensive approach to the decision to deploy them in Ukraine, to take them into service and to use them in combat,” Ignat said.
Before sending the planes to Ukraine, it is necessary to prepare everything for the operation of the equipment, the adviser warned.
We shall remind you that earlier retired German army colonel and military expert Wolfgang Richter in an interview with Welt expressed the opinion that the Russian army would destroy F-16 fighter jets if the West decided to supply them to Ukraine.