President Joe Biden has told G7 leaders that the US will support joint efforts with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots in the use of combat aircraft, including the F-16. The White House confirmed this after previous reports of the effect appeared in the American media.

The training is expected to take place entirely in Europe. However, American personnel will participate in joint training with allies in Europe. It is estimated that it will take several months.

Permission required

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will attend the G7 summit in Japan, called the decision “historic” on Twitter. Zelensky has repeatedly urged his Western allies to provide fighter jets. An American permit is required for delivery, as the F-16 is manufactured in the US.

However, US participation in the possible training does not mean that the US has decided to supply fighter jets to Ukraine. “As the training progresses over the next few months, the coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide whether we will actually provide the aircraft, how many we will provide and who will provide them,” an administration official told CNN.

Exercise

In March, the US hosted two Ukrainian pilots at a military base in Tucson, Arizona, to evaluate their skills using a flight simulator and assess how long it would take them to learn how to fly various US military aircraft, including the F-16. The US Congress has allocated money for such training in the 2023 budget.

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that he had reached an agreement with Prime Minister Mark Rutte to lead an international fighter jet coalition for Ukraine. “From training to acquiring the F-16,” said spokesman Sunak. Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra denied this a day later and said the Netherlands had not gotten that far. Denmark also announced soon after Biden’s endorsement that it wanted to start training Ukrainian pilots. (AP)