The German government may reconsider its position regarding the possible supply of modern Western fighter jets to Ukraine.
This was stated by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in an interview with DW.
"Now we are in the phase of rethinking and checking what is possible and what we want and can do. And I think we will decide within the next two weeks," he noted.
According to Pistorius, Germany should rethink its own policy of recent decades.
"German society, German politics really changed their minds. If someone had told me two years ago that Germany would supply €3-5 billion worth of heavy weapons, I would not have believed it," he emphasized.
At the same time, the Minister of Defense of Germany again denied the possibility of the future transfer of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
Responding to a question about fears about Ukraineʼs use of German weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation, Pistorius noted that international law allows this to be done for the purpose of self-defense. According to him, Berlin and Washington have always emphasized that they would not want their weapons to be used in Russia. At the same time, the minister said that he "completely trusts Ukrainian partners."
- On May 16, Britain informed about the start of an international coalition of countries that will train Ukrainian pilots to fly fourth-generation Western fighter jets, including the F-16. The coalition included the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Portugal. Pilot training will begin in the coming months.
- Denmark and the Netherlands headed the European group for training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16. They will be the first countries to begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets, other countries will join later.
- On May 23, the Pentagon informed that the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will begin at least in a few months. And this is based on an optimistic scenario. However, this is quite a short period of time, as it usually takes more than two years to train a new American pilot to operate such an aircraft.
- F-16 will be delivered to Ukraine in units, not individually. At the initial stage, several dozen of these aircraft may be transferred. Earlier, the adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense Yuriy Sak said that Ukraine wants to receive 40 to 50 F-16 fighters to form three or four squadrons.