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Kiev claims that eight European countries have already joined ‘air coalition’

Igor Zhovkva specified that the list of countries included Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Portugal and France

MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Eight European countries have agreed to join the so-called "aviation coalition," which will provide Ukraine with combat aircraft, Igor Zhovkva, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office said on Friday.

"The basis of the European part of the coalition has been formed with the participation of already eight countries. Soon there will be more," the Ukrainian media resource European Pravda quotes him as saying. He specified that the list of countries included Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Portugal and France.

"A separate joint statement on the subject has even been adopted with the president of France," Zhovkva said.

According to the official, the agreements reached make it possible to expect concrete decisions regarding the scope and mechanism for training pilots and maintenance personnel, as well as the creation of conditions and appropriate infrastructure for the fighters already during the next meeting of the contact group for assistance to Ukraine in Ramstein.

On June 1, French and Ukrainian presidents Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Zelensky, after holding talks, instructed the defense ministers to present a training program for fighter pilots and aircraft mechanics for Kiev.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin earlier said that Denmark and the Netherlands would lead a European coalition to train Ukrainian pilots in the use of F-16 fighter jets. On 21 May, US President Joe Biden announced that the West would start training Ukrainian pilots to fly fourth-generation fighters, including F-16s. At the same time, US presidential national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that Washington would discuss in the coming months with like-minded countries which of them would transfer F-16s to Kiev.

Commenting on the intentions of the US allies to transfer F-16s to Kiev, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko stressed that Western countries continued to follow the path of escalation in the Ukrainian conflict and that Moscow would take this into account in its plans.

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