The EU foreign policy commissioner felt that Washington’s allowing Ukrainian pilots to train in F-16s created a big momentum that eventually brought those fighters to the battlefield in Ukraine.
“As you know, every time we discuss, the same thing happens, at first everyone hesitates,” Josep Borrell said today, Tuesday, referring to the long debate and opposition to the start of the deployment of advanced Leopard tanks in Ukraine.
And he continued: “In the end – through the Leopard and later the F-16 – the decision to provide this military support comes because it is definitely needed.”
Borrell added that the training of Ukrainian pilots had begun in Poland and a number of other countries, while Polish National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak confirmed Warsaw’s readiness to train Ukrainians, but said the process had not yet begun. The Netherlands and Denmark in particular are planning to provide such training.
A decision to send fourth-generation combat aircraft has not yet been made, but observers believe that training pilots now, a process that takes several months, will help speed up preparations for combat once the official decision is made.
Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Olongren said: “We can continue and can complete the plans we are developing with Denmark and other allies to start these exercises. Of course, this is the first step we need to take.”
She added: “We will continue to discuss the next step with our allies and countries that may have access to the F-16. But now it is not discussed.
Ukraine has long favored modern fighter jets to gain an edge in combat. These new plans open up opportunities for several countries to provide them with aircraft and for the United States to help train pilots.
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned Western countries supplying weapons to Ukraine that they were becoming more and more involved in the conflict, and stressed that pumping Western weapons into Kiev, including F-16s, could never completely change the situation. on the battlefield
Source: Associated Press.
