In an interview with Politico, Defense Minister Yuriy Sak voiced Ukraine’s expectations for F-16 fighter jets. No country has yet directly confirmed future supplies, but no one is denying the possibility. Intensive consultations on the supply of Western military aircraft have not subsided recently, the issue will be raised at the NATO summit in Vilnius and the G7 meeting in Hiroshima.

“Ukraine wants to get 40 to 50 F-16s to form three or four squadrons to protect its skies from Russian bombing” – Yuri Sak.

The problem of modern fighters has worsened and instead the use of long-range guided bombs by the Russians. According to the minister’s adviser, the coalition of fighter jets is now being discussed by everyone – a big progress compared to the situation 2-3 months ago.

During President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s European tour, Western leaders assured him that the issue would be discussed in the coming days. Not all European allies can offer the F-16 themselves, but their opinion is strong enough to influence the US and other states. The F-16 is the most massive fighter, the reserves of which in the world number in the thousands, while many European countries have preferred their own combat aircraft.

Britain has expressed readiness to start training Ukrainian pilots in the summer. How this will happen remains a mystery – the country does not have an F-16 and uses Eurofighter Typhoon fighters. However, there is an official statement on this matter. Among the European countries, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Romania have F-16. Most of them are in service in the USA and Turkey.

Fighter F-16 Fighting Falcon: American fighting falcon