Ukraine will receive F-16 as soon as training of Ukrainian pilots is completed - Kuleba

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba predicts that Ukraine will receive F-16 fighters when the training of Ukrainian pilots is completed.

He said this on the air of the 1+1 TV channel.

When asked by a journalist when Ukraine will receive American F-16 fighters, Kuleba replied:

"As soon as the training is completed. I think that Ukrainian pilots will return from training and the aircraft with them too. They may not fly right in the cockpits, but it will be a synchronized process."

According to him, this week President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had daily meetings and conversations about speeding up the process of providing Ukraine with F-16 fighters.

"I will say diplomatically: I think there will be good news soon," he added.

Besides, the Foreign Minister noted that at this stage the issue of providing Ukraine with F-16 is no longer political, but technical.

"This is a question of pilot training, engineers training, infrastructure preparation and, in fact, technical transfer (of F-16 fighters - Ed.)," Kuleba said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, said that it will take some time for American F-16 aircraft to appear in Ukraine and their integration into the air fleet, since this is a multi-stage process.

Earlier, The Washington Post, citing some senior government and military officials, reported that the first group of six Ukrainian pilots will not complete training on American F-16 until the next summer.

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