EU welcomes F-16 jet decision for Ukraine
- ‘It’s always the same thing … at the beginning everybody is reluctant, at the end, the decision is to provide military support because it is absolutely needed’
- Foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also said training for Ukrainian pilots had already begun, in Poland and other countries, but this was later dismissed by Poland
“And at the end – with the Leopards, with the F-16 at the end – the decision comes to provide this military support because it is absolutely needed.”
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that the training decision was the exact thrust necessary toward making the jets available to Ukraine.
“Announcing clearly that they will start training – this is an important step that partly will enable us to deliver fighter jets at some stage,” Stoltenberg said before meeting with EU defence ministers.
He said it also proved that the West would not stand down in the face of Russia, saying such a decision “is sending a very clear signal that we are there for the long term and that Russia cannot wait us out”.
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Borrell added that training for Ukrainian pilots had already begun in Poland – a neighbour to Ukraine and one of its staunchest supporters – and some other countries, although the Polish defence minister later said this was not the case.
“We’re ready. The Polish side is ready to train pilots on F-16 aircraft. Such training has not yet begun,” Mariusz Blaszczak said, after talks with his EU counterparts in Brussels.
Blaszczak said he wanted the training to be part of a broader EU programme to ready Ukrainian military personnel for the fight against Russia.
The Netherlands and Denmark, among others, are also making plans for such training.
No decision on actually delivering fourth-generation fighter jets has been taken yet, but training pilots now – a process that takes several months – will help speed up battle readiness once a formal decision is made.
“We can continue and also finalise the plans that we are making with Denmark and other allies to start these trainings. And of course, that is the first step that you have to take,” Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said.
“We will continue discussing with our allies and with countries that might have F-16s available about that next step. But that’s not on the table right now,” Ollongren said.
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“But we will speed up now that we know that we have the green light” from Washington, she said.
European economic powerhouse Germany said it was examining how it could be involved but warned it had only “extremely limited” possibilities to contribute as it does not possess F-16 jets.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin’s involvement “is not relevant because we simply do not have F-16 aircraft and could not help with pilot training”.
Ukraine has long begged for the sophisticated fighter to give it a combat edge as it battles Russia’s invasion, now in its second year. And this new plan opens the door for several nations to supply the aircraft and for the US to help train the pilots.
With the decision, the Biden administration has made a sharp reversal after refusing to approve any transfer of the aircraft or conduct training for more than a year because of worries that it could escalate tensions with Russia.
US officials also have argued against the F-16 by saying that learning to fly and logistically support such an advanced aircraft would be difficult and take months.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
