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Only six Ukrainian pilots have reportedly been trained by European Nato members to fly F-16 fighter jets due to be delivered to Kyiv next month. Ukraine has been urging its allies for months to send them the jets, claiming they would help defend against long-range strikes and bring about a swift end to the war. Citing Ukrainian and Western officials, the Washington Post reported that not only are there far too few trained pilots to give Ukraine an edge but the jets can not immediately be used on the front line due to improving Russian air defences.
Several European countries have been involved in the programme to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, which includes language training in Britain. But the project had limited spots and was marred by delays, the unnamed officials told the Post. The officials said that Ukraine would only receive one squadron of F-16s this year, roughly 20 fighter jets, far fewer than it had been hoping for.
For two years, Ukraine has been asking for F-16 fighter jets to counter Russia’s domination of the skies. In total, 80 F-16 fighter jets have been promised to Ukraine by Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium. But Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian commanders have complained that like with other weapons pledges, it is too little, too late. The officials said that when the much-vaunted F-16s do finally arrive in Ukraine, they won’t be the game-changers as hoped.
One reason is that Ukrainian commanders have said they will be deployed in a defensive capacity because Russia still controls the skies and has set up air defence systems across the front line, making it too risky to send out F-16s. “We will not use it too close to the Russians” due to the threat of air defences, a Ukrainian official told the Washington Post.
Basing the F-16s in Ukraine has also become a problem. F-16s need a long, clean runway, free of stones or debris. Over the past few weeks, Russia has been bombing the only suitable bases. Ukrainian frustrations over the limited impact of the F-16s come as relations between Kyiv and Washington fray. US media reported that earlier this month, the Kremlin phoned Washington to warn that Ukraine was planning a covert operation that would trigger a bigger war. Furious and alarmed, the US reportedly ordered Kyiv to call off the attack.
