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UK announces plans to open new training center for Ukrainian military pilots

Speaking with the media following a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Rishi Sunak stated that the UK would support Kiev’s efforts to create a coalition of countries willing to send F-16 fighters to Ukraine

LONDON, May 15. /TASS/. The United Kingdom will open a new training center for Ukrainian military pilots, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said on Twitter on Monday.

"We will open a new UK flying school, giving Ukrainian pilots the training they need to handle different types of aircraft," the tweet reads.

The British prime minister’s office said earlier on Monday that the UK would start to train Ukrainian military pilots in the summer, based on the agreements that London and Kiev had reached in February.

Speaking with the media following a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Sunak stated that the UK would support Kiev’s efforts to create a coalition of countries willing to send F-16 fighters to Ukraine. The British prime minister also said that the UK did not plan to reduce its assistance to Ukraine. Sunak’s spokesperson specified, when commenting on the outcome of Zelensky’s visit to the United Kingdom, that London still had no plans to provide Kiev with Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft. According to him, the Ukrainian authorities would prefer to have F-16 fighters.