European Prime Ministers discuss training of Ukrainian F-16 pilots

At the summit in Moldova, several European prime ministers discussed with the President of Ukraine the training of Ukrainian pilots in the operation of F-16 fighter jets.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced this at a press conference in Chisinau.

“We made a schedule of these classes. Poland will help Ukraine train F-16 fighter pilots,” Morawiecki said.

As previously reported, Denmark and the Netherlands will lead a European coalition to conduct training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated at the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, 2023 that there is already an understanding of which countries can transfer their planes to Ukraine.

“The training mission opened for us today is the first step. Then there is the associated number of months to train our pilots. We will work to ensure that these people are educated as soon as possible, I mean experienced, people with a lot of experience, to shorten the training process… I can’t tell you now how many planes we will be able to get, I can’t tell you exactly when it will be. We will speed it up because it is important for us every day,” Zelensky said on May 23 in Hiroshima.

The Netherlands has declared its readiness to train Ukrainian pilots, as well as considering the possibility of transferring the F-16 fighter jets in service, which are planned to be decommissioned by 2024.

According to the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands, the country currently has 24 operational F-16 fighter jets that will be phased out by mid-2024.

Another 18 of the fighter jets are currently available for sale, of which 12 have been provisionally sold.

In May 2023, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced the required number of F-16s to liberate Ukraine. The number mentioned is 48 fighter jets.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed the agreement of the United States to train Ukrainian pilots on multirole fighter jets.

“I told Zelensky that Ukrainian pilots will be trained on fourth-generation aircraft, including the F-16. So that Ukraine can defend itself,” said Biden.