Denmark is discussing "concrete plans" to participate in the so-called coalition of fighters for Ukraine. Acting Minister of Defense of Denmark Troels Lund Poulsen reported this in a joint interview published on May 19 by DR and Ritzau.
According to him, the US decision to join the "fighter coalition" will open the way for countries that are ready to train Ukrainian pilots on American F-16 combat aircraft.
"Denmark will make significant efforts to make this a priority task," Poulsen emphasized, noting that the final training plan of the coalition country will be finalized within the next month.
The joint format of pilot retraining from Ukraine will also be the topic of the meeting of defense ministers of Western countries in Warsaw, he said.
Poulsen confirmed that Denmark is ready to discuss the supply of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, but this is not a matter of the near future.
"We are open to a discussion - after we conduct the training - whether we should go further and transfer the F-16 fighter jets," the defense minister added.
On May 19, US President Joe Biden told the leaders of the G7 countries on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima that the US will support joint efforts with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation aircraft, including the F-16. In the course of their preparation, the coalition of countries will decide in the coming months "when to actually provide fighter jets, how many to provide and who will provide them," the American government official said.
On May 19, a senior official of the Biden administration said that the United States and its allies plan to provide Ukraine with American F-16 fighter jets, NBC News reported. According to the official, the planes will not necessarily be supplied directly from the USA and will not be used for the expected counteroffensive of Ukraine in the war against the aggressor country Russia.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyі thanked Biden for the US support to the international "coalition of fighter jets". "This will significantly strengthen our army in the sky," the head of the Ukrainian state said.
