The president of United States, Joe Bidenannounced this Friday that his country will support the training of Ukrainian pilots in handling fourth-generation aircraft, including F-16 fighters, international media report.
The training of the Ukrainian pilots will take place outside that nation and in different parts of Europe, according to a report from the agency EFEwhich specifies that the announcement was made during the G7 summit that takes place in Hiroshima, Japan.
According to a US official, quoted by the Spanish outlet, the United States expects the training to begin in the coming weeks and to take several months to complete.
Although the training will begin in a relatively short time, the United States and its allies have not yet decided when the F-16s will be sent to Ukraine, how many will be sent and which country will provide them, the news dispatch notes.
For this reason, according to the aforementioned official, Washington and its allies will now enter a new phase in which they will have to decide those details, while at the same time progress is made in the training of Ukrainian pilots.
Biden’s decision is intended to send a “powerful signal” to Russia about the West’s commitment to the “sovereignty, independence and security” of Ukraine, as well as its ability to defend itself against future attacks, the official said, quoted by EFE.
For its part, Moscow considered that Western countries opted for escalation in the Ukrainian conflict by announcing their intentions to train pilots and supply F-16 fighters to Kiev, and assured that this implies “colossal risks.”
According to the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Grushko, his country will prepare to counteract this step, according to another report of EFE.
According to the senior Russian diplomat, “in any case this will be taken into account in all our plans, and we have all the necessary means to achieve the established objectives.”
Meanwhile, the President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, who arrived in Hiroshima on Saturday to participate in person at the G7 summit, celebrated the decision.
“I welcome the historic decision by the United States and the President of the United States to support an international coalition of fighter jets. This will greatly improve our army in the skies. I am counting on discussing the practical application of this decision at the G7 summit in Hiroshima,” Zelensky said.
In February, the United Kingdom announced that it was going to develop a new training program for Ukrainian pilots in order to support its efforts to create a new Ukrainian air force with NATO F-16 fighter jets, recalls the Spanish agency.
EFE also points out that in recent months, Ukraine has been requesting that it be supplied with fighter-bombers to defend itself against Russia, but Biden had so far been reluctant to respond to this demand.
EFE / OnCuba
