British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to extend the British military training program to fighter pilots, the Prime Minister's website reports.
“As part of today’s talks, the Prime Minister will offer to bolster the UK’s training offer for Ukrainian troops, including expanding it to fighter jet pilots to ensure Ukraine can defend its skies well into the future,” the announcement of the Ukrainian president's visit to London read.
It added that the training would ensure pilots are able to fly sophisticated NATO-standard fighter jets in the future. As part of that long-term capability investment, the UK will work with Ukraine and international allies to coordinate collective support to meet Ukraine’s defensive needs.
Sunak will also offer to start an immediate training program for the marines. That training will be in addition to the recruit training programme already running in the UK, which has seen 10,000 Ukrainian troops brought to battle readiness in the last six months, and which will upskill a further 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers in 2023. The UK will continue to work with the Ukrainian Armed Forces to scale the programme up.
So far, no country has provided Ukraine with modern fighter jets. A spokesman for the British prime minister said tha it would be irrational to provide Ukrainians with UK-made fighter jets, as training to operate them could take up to five years.
US President Joe Biden said no to the question of whether the US would provide Ukrainians with its F-16s. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that in terms of mass production, market availability, and maintenance, the F-16 is the best fighter for Ukraine. However, it is not certain that it will be the first foreign aircraft Ukraine will receive.