US President Joe Biden told the G7 leaders at the summit in Japan that Washington will support the supply of modern military aircraft, including the F-16, to Ukraine and support efforts to train Ukrainian pilots in the use of these aircraft, a White House source revealed on Friday.
/nginx/o/2023/02/11/15134030t1h7658.jpg "AbroadToday, 19:353 A source in the White House reports that Washington will support the transfer of modern fighter jets to Ukraine 2")
US President Joe Biden told the G7 leaders at the summit in Japan that Washington will support the supply of modern military aircraft, including the F-16, to Ukraine and support efforts to train Ukrainian pilots in the use of these aircraft, a White House source revealed on Friday.
Biden said the United States “will support joint efforts with our allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighters, including the F-16, to further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force,” a White House source said.
“As the training takes place in the coming months, our coalition of nations engaged in these activities will decide when to actually provide the jets, how many we will provide and who will provide them,” explained the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine has long asked the West to supply it with modern fighter jets, but Kyiv’s international backers have so far refrained from such a move.
But British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rite announced this week that they would form an “international coalition” to supply fighter jets to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in London on Monday after meeting with Sunak that he is very positive about the creation of a “coalition of destroyers”.
Sunak announced on Monday that Britain would train Ukrainian pilots, and French President Emmanuel Macron also offered to organize pilot training, but rejected the idea of handing over the planes to Ukraine.
