Ukraine Air Force Official Provides Update on Game-Changing Weapons

The Ukrainian Air Force says that potentially game-changing F-16 fighter jets are "ready" to be delivered to Ukraine but will not arrive until pilots and support staff are fully prepared.

Ukrainian pilots have been training on the American-made jets in Denmark ahead of their hotly-anticipated first delivery. The F-16s are a significant upgrade to the Soviet-era MiG and Sukhoi aircraft that the Ukrainian Air Force has been relying on since the war with Russia began on February 24, 2022.

Speculation has been mounting about when the aircraft will be flying in Ukraine. Newsweek cited a U.S. source while reporting on Wednesday morning that Kyiv had "likely" already received the first jets, a claim that was denied in a statement shared to Facebook by Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat.

In a Ukrainian media interview shared on the "Warriors Ukrainian" Telegram channel, Ignat provided an update on the status of the jets, saying that bringing the aircraft into the "crosshairs of the enemy" before training was completed would be pointless.

"Indeed the first batch may already be, is ready, [but] the process is ongoing," Ignat said. "What's the point of bringing planes here to stand in the crosshairs of the enemy, waiting for everything to be 100 percent ready?"

"The infrastructure, the pilots who are now in training with the instructors, also the aviation engineering staff [are] the basics that we need," he added. "We're taking planes to fight on them, not to keep them standing."

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that its first group of F-16 pilots had completed a basic training program in the United Kingdom and moved on to training with the jets in Denmark, without revealing an exact timeline for the arrival of the aircraft in Ukraine.

While Ukrainian and U.S. officials have described the impending introduction of the F-16s as "game-changing," Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted that the jets will make no difference to the war, saying in September that the development "simply prolongs the conflict."

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email on Wednesday.

In an interview published by RBC Ukraine on Wednesday, Ignat said that Kyiv has "grandiose" plans for the F-16s, arguing that the superior technology would help to "gain air superiority and resist the use of guided aviation bombs."

Ukraine's "Spravdi" Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that "the process of obtaining F-16 fighter jets by Ukraine is reaching the finish line," estimating that "combat use of the F-16 can begin as early as the spring of 2024."

The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium have all agreed to aid the Ukrainian war effort by collectively providing Kyiv with dozens of F-16s.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week that an initial shipment of 18 jets from the Netherlands would be sent soon.

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