2023-08-18 18:33:45
The F-16A single-seat aircraft first flew in December 1976.
The administration of President Joe Biden has informed Denmark and the Netherlands that it will allow them to deliver US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine when the country’s pilots know how to fly them, the US State Department said Friday.
Both Denmark and the Netherlands, which lead the program to train Ukraine’s pilots on F-16s, have received “formal guarantees” for the transfer, a State Department spokesperson said.
“This way, Ukraine can make the most of its new capabilities as soon as the first batch of pilots complete their training,” he added.
Washington maintains restrictions on the resale or transfer of US-made military equipment by allies.
It is unknown how long it will take to train the first Ukrainian pilots. The training, led by a coalition of 11 countries, was due to begin this month.
Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren expressed her satisfaction with the move.
“It allows us to continue training Ukrainian pilots” but “everything takes time,” he said on social media, according to the ANP agency.
Ukraine had requested this training to replace heavy losses suffered by its air force, which mainly flies Russian planes.
US fighter-bombers are better at combat than Ukraine’s, but pilots are more difficult to train to handle.
kyiv lobbied for a long time to get them but Washington didn’t give the go-ahead until a few months ago.
In July Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to President Volodimir Zelensky, estimated that they need “between 60 and 80 F-16s” to support offensive ground operations in the south, from where Kiev hopes to drive Russian forces out.
F-16 fighter jets of the Netherlands Air Force (REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw)
Ukraine will need more weapons from its Western allies until it defeats Russian forces and expel them from its territory, said the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmitro Kuleba, who also assured that his country seeks to counter the weight of Moscow in Africa.
“If our partners ask us to guarantee that this or that weapon will only be used on Ukrainian territory, we give that guarantee and we respect it,” the Ukrainian official said. “There have been a few occasions when we have made such promises and we have followed through on them,” he stressed.
The minister also explained that the counteroffensive that the Ukrainian forces have been carrying out for two months seeks to liberate the entire territory. “Our goal is victory, victory in the form of the liberation of our territories within the 1991 borders”, he stated in the interview. “And it doesn’t matter how long it takes,” he added.
The 1991 borders are those of the independent Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which include Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
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