Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the first groups of Ukrainian pilots have already left for training in Great Britain. He thanked British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley for his leadership in creating a "coalition of fighter jets."
He wrote about this in his Telegram channel.
Also at the meeting, he called for stronger sanctions against Russia and to outline a clear framework for Ukraineʼs accession to NATO at the Allianceʼs July summit.
"We welcome Britainʼs participation in rapid reconstruction. In particular, in the restoration of six bridges in the Kyiv region and the application of UKEF tools. We hope for a quick development of a compensation mechanism. Russia must pay for everything destroyed," Shmyhal said.
- 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 16, Britain announced 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.
- On June 4, the spokesman of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Yuriy Ihnat said that Ukraine has formed the first list of pilots who will go to train on the F-16. They will be sent in waves.
- On May 20, the White House confirmed that in the following months, the US and its allies would discuss when and how many fighter jets Ukraine will receive. The US agreed to the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine.
- On May 21, US President Joe Biden confirmed that the United States would begin training Ukrainian pilots in the near future. The American report says that two Ukrainian aces on F-16 simulators exceeded the expectations of the United States. There, they believe that they will be able to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 in four months instead of 18, as previously planned.
- On May 23, the Pentagon announced that the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would begin in at least 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.