Ukraine probably won’t receive American F-16 fighter jets from allies until spring 2024. This was stated by the speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ignat.
“It is already obvious that we will not be able to protect Ukraine with F-16 aircraft during this autumn and winter,” he said on the air of the telethon.
According to him, there were high hopes for these fighters, as they could become part of the country’s air defense and help defend against Russian missiles.
At the same time, Ignat recalled that the issue of training Ukrainian personnel for the F-16 has practically moved forward. We are talking about training both pilots and engineers.
“We understand that our pilots will soon be studying in countries that are members of the aviation coalition. At the same time, we need to strengthen our air defense, and it is being carried out. Recently, two more Patriot launchers were announced, which we received,” – noted Ignat.
According to him, Russia is using more and more drones to strike Ukraine. In this regard, he noted, it is necessary to increase the appropriate means of combat – strike UAVs.
“We need to do one thing: in the international formats in which we participate, to tell our partners about the urgent need, about Ukraine’s need for protection. And we see that the issue of providing cruise missiles to Ukraine is also receiving wide publicity. These are Taurus missiles, as well as ballistic ATACMS,” Ignat said.
