White House Seeks to Start Training of Ukrainian Pilots on F-16s ASAP

The White House has said that the United States, together with its European allies, is currently working to ensure that the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets begins as soon as possible.

At the same time, John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, added at a briefing that he had no new information about the training of Ukrainian pilots.

"Obviously, coming out of Vilnius [NATO summit – ed.] and the G7, the President made a strong commitment that we do support F-16 – eventual F-16 delivery to Ukraine. And you got to start with training, and we have been working with our European allies in particular to see if we can get that training going as soon as possible," Kirby said.

Previously, Kirby admitted that Ukrainian pilots could undergo the F-16 training in the United States.

In mid-July, 11 partner countries, together with Ukraine, signed a memorandum defining the conditions for training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16s.

The training was supposed to start in August, but as per media reports, the United States has not yet approved the final training plan, as European states have not agreed on all its details.