The UK wants to build an international coalition to help Ukraine get F-16 fighter jets, the British government said today after a meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.
At a meeting on the sidelines of the Council of Europe summit in Iceland, the two leaders agreed “that they would work together to build an international coalition to provide combat air capabilities to Ukraine (…), from training to delivery of F16 aircraft,” Downing Street (UK Prime Minister’s Office) said in a statement.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the UK for sending Storm Shadow long-range missiles and for agreeing to train Ukrainian pilots.
“We are forming a coalition to train pilots [ucranianos] when using western aircraft”then said the Ukrainian president.
“The UK has accepted, Poland has accepted and I am sure France and other partners will join”underlined Zelensky on the same occasion.
On the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he had “opened from now on the door to train Ukrainian fighter jet pilots”, a day after a meeting in Paris with Zelensky.
“Several other European countries are ready for this. I believe talks are underway with the Americans”declared the French president in an interview with the TF1 channel, on the other hand considering that a possible future delivery of fighter jets to Kiev “would be a theoretical debate”.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
