NATO Says Ukraine Pilots Being Trained to Fly F-16 Jets; No Plan Yet on Delivery of Aircraft to Kyiv – News18

Ukrainian fighter pilots are being trained to fly the US-made F-16 jets, NATO’s secretary general has revealed, as Kyiv prepares to boost its counteroffensive against Russian forces in the east and south of the territory.

Although the NATO allies are yet to agree on the delivery of F-16s fighter jets to Ukraine, but Jens Stoltenberg said that the training of Ukrainian personnel was underway.

“The fact that training has started provides us with the option to also decide to deliver the planes and then the pilots will be ready to fly them,” Stoltenberg said as he arrived at a meeting of defence ministers in Brussels.

The announcement comes months after there is a debate among the US and Western allies over delivering F-16s to Ukraine and the risk of deploying it against Russia as it can escalate the conflict.

The US has control over the aircraft re-export from any country that has them in its arsenal.

Earlier in February, US President Joe Biden declined Ukrainian requests for the lightweight fighter aircraft.

The US is sceptical of providing the jet as it requires considerable training and Russia has anti-aircraft systems that could easily shoot them down.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly tried to assure the US that the planes would be used to target Russian forces within Ukraine.

The Ukrainian pilots would require months of training to fly the F-16s as they have previously flown mainly in Soviet-standard aircraft.

Ukraine doesn’t even have the runway suitable for the American fighter jet even if NATO countries agree to provide it with the aircraft.

The US, however, worked with the Ukrainian pilots and conducted a “familiarization event” to determine how long would it take them to train to fly F-16 fighter jets, according to a report published in March.

Last month, Russia warned Western nations of “playing with fire” by agreeing to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, adding that it would lead to an unacceptable escalation of the conflict.

Kyiv’s military has launched its offensive in the east and south of the country, asserting it is “moving forward” while Russia claims Ukraine has suffered “catastrophic” losses.

Ukrainian forces have pushed 2 to 4 miles into formerly occupied lands. The Kyiv army is said to have advanced by 2 miles in the Zaporizhzhia region and by up to 4 miles in Donetsk.