kyiv (Reuters) – kyiv hopes to receive its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western allies in June-July, a senior Ukrainian military source said on Friday.
Ukraine has called on American-made F-16 fighter jets to help counter Russia’s air superiority during more than two years of war. The source did not specify which country would supply the planes.
So far, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium have committed to sending F-16s to Ukraine.
Illya Yevlash, an air force spokesman, said this week that some Ukrainian pilots were completing training to fly warplanes.
Pilots and ground staff have been trained for months by Ukraine’s Western partners.
Ukraine’s military has had to rely on a relatively small fleet of Soviet-era jets as it struggles to contain Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
As Russian forces slowly advance in the eastern Donbass region and launch a new assault in the northeast near the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials view the addition of the F-16 as a vital upgrade for its army. the air.
(Reporting by Sergiy Karazy; writing by Olena Harmash; editing by Christina Fincher)
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