Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave the US' full support for the transfer of aircraft and training of pilots, in a letter seen by Reuters
“I am writing to express the United States’ full support for both the transfer of F-16 fighter aircraft to Ukraine and for the training of Ukrainian pilots by qualified F-16 instructors,” Mr Blinken said in a letter to the two officials, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.
Mr Blinken said: “It remains critical that Ukraine is able to defend itself against ongoing Russian aggression and violation of its sovereignty.” He said the approval of the requests would allow Ukraine to take “full advantage of its new capabilities as soon as the first set of pilots complete their training.”in May. In addition to training in Denmark, a training centre was to be set up in Romania.
US officials have privately said that F-16 jets would have been of little help to Ukraine in its current counteroffensive and will not be a game changer when they eventually arrive given Russian air defense systems and contested skies over Ukraine.
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