Ukraine wants to receive 40-50 F-16s from its partners

Ukraine hopes to receive about 40-50 modern F-16 fighters from its partners. This will make it possible to form three or four squadrons to protect the Ukrainian sky.

This is reported with reference to the statement of advisor to the Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Sak, quoted by Politico.

According to him, President Volodymyr Zelensky wants combat aircraft to be the top agenda item at the G7 summit in Hiroshima and then again at the NATO summit in Lithuania in July.

"The Ukrainian president received assurances from Western leaders during his last European tour that they would discuss the issue in the coming days," Sak said.

According to the publication, although Britain, Italy, France and Germany cannot offer F-16s, Sak said "they have an important voice in the international coalition," and Ukraine would like them to "encourage" allies such as the United States and Turkey.

"Ukraine wants between 40 to 50 F-16s in total, forming three or four squadrons to defend its skies from Russian bombardments," Sack said.

He explained that the need for modern jets became more acute after the Russian air force in March began using guided, long-range, guided glide bombs extensively to reach targets.

"Ukraine currently has nothing to stop the Russian aircraft carrying them," Sak noted.

According to him, everyone understands that the topic is ripe for discussion and no one said it was impossible.

"If you compared it with three months ago, when we were still struggling to get tanks, today everybody is talking about the jet coalition — that’s a very promising sign. We understand that our air defense will not be complete without fighter jets, F-16s," Sack stressed.

As a reminder, recently the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that his country will start training Ukrainian pilots on military aircraft, and is also working with other countries to provide Ukraine with F-16s.

French President Emmanuel Macron also said after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, that the door taining pilots from Ukraine “is opened”.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 16/05/2023