On May 22, Borrell reported that the training of pilots from Ukraine on F-16 fighters has already begun in several countries.
The spokesman of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Yuriy Ignat, denied reports that Ukrainian pilots had begun training on American F-16 fighter jets.
Ignat said this on the air of the national telethon on May 23, the video was published on YouTube by TSN.
On May 22, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell announced that the training of pilots from Ukraine on F-16 fighter jets has already started in several countries (in particular, in Poland).
"The process of preparing people to start this training is still ongoing. There are advanced groups that have gone to European countries, to countries that can provide us with sites for training. We are studying how this process will go. The pilots themselves are not yet available," he said. Ignat on the air of the marathon: - Everyone is waiting... For a long time, unfortunately, I had to refute every time that "pilots study in the USA... in Europe"... Once a month such news appears, and I have to put dots over " and ". Because there is no need to give any extra hope."
According to the speaker of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, "there is actually an aviation coalition, a number of countries will train pilots, some are already ready to hand over fighter jets to us."
"You know these countries, of course - the USA, European countries... The start is given. The decision that Ukraine will have the F-16 is in place. Next are technical points, processes... Representatives of the Air Force are constantly in contact with our partners to study, when and which groups will go to which countries for training and what will be the time limits", Ignat said.
At the same time, he added that many pilots cannot be sent to learn on the F-16, because "someone needs to fight."
In May, the creation of the so-called aviation coalition was supported by three countries - Great Britain, France and the Netherlands. So far, we are only talking about training missions for Ukrainian pilots using Western aircraft. Belgium, Portugal, and Denmark also expressed willingness to train Ukrainian pilots.
At the same time, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, stated that his government assumed 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 USA.
At the G7 summit held on May 19-21, US President Joe Biden said that the US would support the efforts of allies and partners and participate in training Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation aircraft, including the F-16.
Ukraine will receive F-16 fighter jets from allies on the condition that the planes, like other Western weapons, will not be used for strikes on the territory of Russia, the White House announced on May 20.
Ukraine may receive F-16 already in the fall, hinted at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
On May 21, the US President's national security adviser Jake Sullivan noted that Biden has not yet decided whether the US will also transfer fighter jets to Ukraine. The Netherlands will probably be the first country to supply F-16s to Ukraine with reference to an adviser to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Yuriy Saka, Politico wrote on May 23.
