The Minister of Defense of Ukraine announced the start of pilot training on the F-16

Ukrainian pilots and technicians have already begun training on American F-16 fighters, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said. Earlier, the media reported that direct combat training of pilots is unlikely to begin before winter.

“The exercises have already begun… This preparation period will be spent on continuing the project with an understanding of when we will have the aircraft directly. And more importantly, how much,” he told Ukrainian Channel 24.

At the same time, Reznikov confirmed that the training period for pilots is at least six months, urging “not to be upset” if in reality it turns out to be longer.

Formerly The Washington Post wrotethat only six Ukrainian pilots will pass the first stage of training. This low number is due to the lack of instructors to train the larger group. At the same time, as Ukrainian officials told the publication, first the pilots will have to complete a four-month language course, during which they will master all the technical terms associated with the F-16 fighters. This means that the combat training program itself, which will take about six months, will begin only in January 2024, the newspaper claimed.

At the May summit of the leaders of the G7 countries (USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan) in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, an agreement was announced to supply fourth-generation American-made F-16 fighter jets to Kiev. The Pentagon said that the European coalition to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 will be led by Denmark and the Netherlands.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that in the event of deliveries to Ukraine, F-16 fighters would burn in the same way as Leopard tanks. The Kremlin has previously said that the supply of fighter jets to Kyiv will not change the situation on the line of contact. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised a military-technical response in the event of an F-16 appearing in the sky of Ukraine.