MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. The potential transfer of Sweden’s Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine would also need to be authorized by third countries, including the US, which supplied parts for the aircraft, Andrey Sibiga, a deputy head at the Ukrainian president's office, said in televised remarks.

When asked whether permission should be sought from the US before any transfer of Gripens to Ukraine, Sibiga said: "It seems to me that it is necessary. Even in aircraft like the Gripen, there are certain components that require the consent of other allies. It is always a process, and we are actually in the middle of this process."

Sibiga added that the potential transfer of fighter jets to Ukraine is being discussed by heads of state.

"We are now already in the phase of getting practical with aircraft-related issues," he said.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexey Reznikov said on Saturday that Ukrainian pilots had begun training to fly the F-16 jet, and two Ukrainian pilots had already performed test flights on F-16s in the US. Reznikov said that it would take at least six months to train Ukrainian pilots to fly US-made F-16 fighter jets. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said at a joint news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson that the countries are discussing the potential transfer of Gripen fighter jets to Kiev and Ukrainian pilots had already started test flights on them. Kiev has long been asking Western allies to transfer F-16s to Ukraine. The chief of the Ukrainian president's staff, Andrey Yermak, said that the country expects to receive these fighter jets by the end of this year. On August 17, Reuters cited sources as saying that the US had allowed Denmark and the Netherlands to transfer some F-16s to Ukraine. The report said these countries would send the planes to Kiev after the training of Ukrainian pilots is completed. The Danish government later confirmed that it had received such permission.