Ukrainian Air Force Speaker Yuri Ignat stated in an interview with the Ukrainian channel “Rada” that the Ukrainian army will not be able to maintain and service a large number of different types of Western aircraft. His words were reported by TASS.
“We will not be able to equip, maintain, service, and train pilots for a large number of different types of aircraft. This will definitely be a challenging process for us,” he said.
Ignat believes that in light of this, Ukraine should “focus on the number one goal,” which is acquiring American F-16 fighters.
Earlier, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, announced that the country is preparing infrastructure for these fighters.
On February 17, the American publication Foreign Policy reported that the first F-16 fighters could appear in Ukraine in June 2024. The article also notes that Ukrainian authorities expect that by the end of the fiscal year, 12 pilots will undergo training on the fighters in the United States.
Previously, NATO had set a condition for transferring F-16s to Ukraine.
