In Denmark, 70 Ukrainian pilots and aviators (technicians and engineers) will undergo training on F-16 fighters. This is the first wave of exercises, followed by the second and third.
"The other group of pilots are young pilots, actually yesterdayʼs graduates, who will go to Great Britain, where they will learn something in a longer program. But they will undergo basic training — English, Western light-engine equipment with the transition to fighter aircraft. This program will last longer, maybe up to 2 years, but this is the perspective that awaits us," the Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said on the air of the telethon.
- Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukraine has been calling on its allies to provide Western-type combat aircraft.
- On July 11, at the NATO summit in Vilnius, 11 countries and Ukraine signed a memorandum on the creation of a coalition to train Ukrainian military pilots on F-16 fighters. The coalition was led by Denmark and the Netherlands, and also included Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Great Britain.
- On August 19, the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov informed that Ukrainian pilots have already started training on the F-16 in Great Britain and Sweden. On August 20, during his visit to Denmark, Volodymyr Zelensky visited Ukrainian pilots who are studying at the Fighter Wing Skrydstrup Air Base.
- The US, in turn, has already approved the transfer of American F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and the Netherlands to Ukraine after the completion of Ukrainian pilot training.
- On August 20, Zelensky said that the Netherlands can transfer 42 fighter jets, and Denmark — 19. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed hope that the first group of six F-16s will head to Ukraine closer to the New Year.