The spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Command, Yuriy Ihnat, said that several dozen pilots are ready to fly combat missions on F-16 fighter jets, Ukrinform has reported.
"We plan to transfer all pilots (to F-16 - ed.). We need to train everyone. But the Air Force commander has identified pilots who already have a certain level of English, combat experience, and these are young pilots. They are ready to fight even tomorrow. We need a political decision to start the process of training ground personnel, including combat management officers and military engineers. Several dozen pilots are ready to fight," Ihnat said on the air of the news telethon.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said that the launch of the counter-offensive is not linked to the receipt of F-16s. He believes that Ukraine cannot freeze the conflict because Russia will also use this time.
Prior to that, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on partners to start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s as soon as possible. The warplanes are needed, in particular, to cover the brigades that will launch a counteroffensive.