At the same time, one of the senior US officials noted that the White House is opposed to the supply of F-16s because of the high cost of these aircraft. If they are transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this could take a significant part of the budget allocated to support Ukraine.
According to the interlocutor of the publication, now the United States is focused on the supply of other types of weapons that Ukraine needs to launch a counteroffensive.
Ukraine has been calling on its allies to provide it with Western-style combat aircraft since the start of a full-scale war, public discussions have intensified in recent months.
At the end of March, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, allowed the transfer of F-16 fighters to Ukraine, but not at the current stage of the war.
May 9 Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated that his government admits the possibility of transferring F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine . He noted that The Netherlands is discussing options for the supply of combat aircraft to Kyiv with Denmark, Great Britain, some other European countries, as well as with the United States. The head of government noted that “the discussion continues.”
On May 15, during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to London, the UK government announced that the country would begin a training mission for Ukrainian pilots in the summer of 2023 to support their efforts to build a new Ukrainian air force using NATO-standard F-16 aircraft. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that London would be Ukraine’s key partner in forming an aviation coalition.
On the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Ukrainian pilots would be trained on French Mirage 2000. According to him, France has no plans to supply combat aircraft to Ukraine yet.
According to Zelensky, the creation of an aviation coalition has already been supported by three countries – in addition to Great Britain and France, these are the Netherlands.
Belgium also expressed its willingness to train Ukrainian pilots.
2023-05-18 06:06:31
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