Several European countries are ready to transfer their US-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, but the US authorities, who have to approve the delivery, do not even allow the Ukrainian military to train them. This was reported by The New York Times citing a high-ranking Ukrainian official.
According to him, without Washington’s approval, the training of Ukrainian pilots may be limited to technical language and tactical lessons, which will take place without using the fighters themselves.
The paper’s source among US officials explained that the White House is opposing the delivery of the F-16 fighters in part because the aircraft cost too much and would take too much of an already shrinking military budget to support the Armed Forces. Instead, the presidential administration is focused on supplying Ukraine with other US weapons before the AFU counteroffensive, and the fighters cannot be delivered in time anyway, as they will take at least several months to deploy. The official did not rule out that the USA will eventually allow European countries to hand over the F-16s.
US authorities are confident that Ukraine needs tanks, artillery and air defence systems for now. However, the UK and the Netherlands agreed to set up an international coalition to buy F-16 fighter jets to hand them over to the Ukrainian army. In addition, the British military will begin the first phase of training pilots from Ukraine in the summer; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised to launch a counteroffensive before receiving the fighters.
“What is really important here is to make it clear to Russia that we, as countries, have no philosophical objection to giving Ukraine the assets it needs, depending on what happens on the battlefield,” said British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
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