President: Partners ready to provide F-16s, but infrastructure needed for this

“Regarding the F-16s and the infrastructure. There is no infrastructure, it will be built and prepared. There is no point in preparing it until there is an agreement that we will have the appropriate aircraft. For today, our last very important meeting was in Moldova, where I had one closed meeting with countries that confirmed that they would definitely give us F-16s,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told a press conference, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

He noted that infrastructure is unlikely to be prepared quickly.

He also emphasized that the transfer of fighter jets requires the approval of partner countries and the United States.

“I received an understanding from some European partners regarding the number [of aircraft]. It is powerful. When I received this information, I had a happy day,” the President said.

In May, the U.S. President told G7 leaders that the United States would support efforts to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that they welcomed the U.S. statement approving the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. He added that the UK would work together with the US, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark to provide Ukraine with the combat aircraft capability it needs.

Subsequently, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba noted that Portugal would also join the coalition.

It is known that eight countries have already joined the coalition, including Poland, Sweden, and France.