Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, stated during his visit to Romania that he has reached an agreement with the country on the acceleration of Ukrainian pilots’ training on F-16 fighter jets.

"We have made an incredibly important decision about the training of F-16 pilots in Romania. The creation of a training centre is underway. Mr President [Iohannis] and I have also discussed ways of accelerating such training and agreed that Ukrainian pilots will be included in the first wave of training," Zelenskyy stated at a joint briefing with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in Bucharest.

Zelenskyy added that he briefed Iohannis about the situation on the battlefield and Ukraine’s defence needs.

"There will be good news concerning artillery and air defence. I am very thankful for this," Zelenskyy said.

In August, Romania stated that it was waiting for the necessary documents to allow the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets to begin. The Romanian Prime Minister later said that all logistics for the training had been prepared.

Earlier the media reported that an airbase in Romania had been chosen for training Ukrainians, and the training was supposed to start in August.