The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at a press conference following the Third summit of the Crimea Platform in Kyiv, gave comprehensive answers to the questions regarding the strengthening of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with Western multi-purpose combat aircraft - F-16 and Gripen.
Regarding the American aircraft, the F-16 was named the new main aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force. And this is extremely important for understanding the possible number of all other alternatives.
Read more: How UAV Attacked russian Tu-22M3 Bomber at Soltsy Air Base
As Volodymyr Zelenskyy reminded, there is already a clear agreement with Denmark with the delivery rates of 19 such aircraft at a rate of 6 fighter jets by the end of 2023, 6 - in 2024, and 7 - in 2025. With regard to the Netherlands, there is an agreement that Ukraine can count on 42 aircraft - this is generally 100% of the aircraft that this country has. But the transfer will also be divided into stages.
"We will undergo training for 18 of them. And when we learn, these 18 aircraft will be handed over to Ukraine. We can get the rest as soon as our pilots are ready," the President of Ukraine said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also noted that a lot depends on Ukraine itself, which has to allocate pilots and specialists of ground technical personnel, and we are talking about dozens of military personnel.
"We have to provide our respective pilots, specialists, engineers. I'll tell you this way: several pilots are serviced by dozens of technical personnel. Therefore, it is very important to choose and send all the guys. I'm not talking about translators, training, etc.," the President of Ukraine said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also added that the priority is to expand the number of training places - for example, during the visit of the President of Ukraine to Greece, consent was received that Athens would also join this process of training Ukrainian F-16 pilots and relevant technical personnel.
The President of Ukraine also reminded that Ukraine cannot physically send all the pilots and technicians, because then there will be no one to fight in the air. And that is why it is necessary to maintain a certain balance.
But, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in addition to the training of specialists, there is another task that must be solved as soon as possible. This is the creation of a modern ground infrastructure. "We need to understand that our infrastructure is not modern for the F-16. We will build it as soon as possible. This is our assignment. This is the task of our Air Forces. And sending pilots is the task of our military," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated.
Regarding the Swedish Gripen: a group of Ukrainian specialists is already in Sweden. Representatives of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will check these aircraft for real combat effectiveness for five weeks. If this assessment turns out to be positive, we will talk about further steps on agreements on the possible supply of these aircraft at the state level.
"If the Swedish government is ready to discuss this, we will agree on a training mission," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, noting that the same path was taken with regard to the F-16.
At the same time, in Ukraine, before initiating negotiations regarding the F-16, it was generally expected to receive only 12 aircraft. But the result turned out to be much more positive.
As Defense Express reported, The F-16 Aircraft Had already Landed on Ukrainian Airfields and even Engaged with Su-27 Fighters.
Read more: S-400 in Crimea Destroyed: Even Recon UAV Approached the russian Air Defense System Unnoticed (Video)
