Ukraine needs approximately 160 fighter jets to create a powerful air fleet. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated this in an interview with the Portuguese TV channel RTP.
"Today we have agreements on 50-60 aircraft. The planes will be [in Ukraine] at different periods, not all at the same time. In total, we need about 160 aircraft to make it a powerful air fleet that would prevent Russia from dominating the skies. We need the fleet not to attack Russia, but to defend ourselves," Zelensky noted.
According to him, the first such planes may appear in the sky at the beginning of next year.
- The training of Ukrainian pilots has already started in Denmark and Britain, and in Romania it was agreed to create a training center. The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway have already agreed to transfer the planes to Ukraine. The Netherlands will transfer all of its (42 total) F-16s to Ukraine, but a "small part" will be for training. Denmark will transfer 19 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and expects the first batch to arrive closer to the New Year. The number of aircraft that Norway will transfer is still unknown.
- The Air Force said that Ukraine needs 128 fighters to completely replace the old aircraft fleet.