We need 160 F-16 fighter jets – Zelenskyy
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, stated that Ukraine has made arrangements concerning the supply of about 50 F-16 fighter jets, but overall needs nearly 160 such aircraft to protect its sky.
Source: Zelenskyy in an interview for a Portuguese TV-channel RTP
Quote: "Today we have agreements concerning 50-60 aircraft.
We need about 160 fighter jets in total in order to create a powerful air fleet which would prevent Russia from dominating in the air."
Details: Zelenskyy stressed that currently the most important thing is that this process has started, even though it happened "a bit later" than expected, as Ukraine wanted to close the sky since the beginning of the full-scale war.
He added that the F-16s are needed not for counteroffensive but for the protection of civilians and of the grain corridor.
Zelenskyy expects that the fighter jets will start protecting the Ukrainian sky at the beginning of the next year due to the long process of training pilots and preparing the infrastructure.
"We are fighting with Russia, fighting for our Ukrainian land but against the policy of the Russian Federation. We only need fighter jets to protect our land, our sea, our sky," Zelenskyy summed up.
Previously: Spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force Yurii Ihnat said that Ukraine needs 128 new fighter jets to replace its old aircraft and gain crucial air superiority.
Background:
- Earlier, it was reported that the United States would soon join the programme to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters.
- Before that the Pentagon stated the US would train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets if European countries fell behind their schedule or if the number of pilots increases significantly.
- Ukrainian pilots are known to have already started training on F-16 fighter jets in Denmark. Greece and Portugal will also train Ukrainian pilots on the F-16s.
- Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway announced their decision to send these aircraft to Kyiv after training is complete.
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