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Ukraine hopes to receive 128 fighter jets from West

It is noted that these aircraft should be deployed at various airfields across the country to ensure quick response to threats

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Air Force needs to receive 128 Western fighter jets as part of its rearming strategy, Ukrainian Air Force Spokesman Yury Ignat said on Monday.

"The Air Force concept, which envisaged rearming, called for a figure of 128 fighter jets, enough to replace the old fleet. This is approximately four air brigades," he said in an interview with the Ukrainian arm of Radio Liberty (recognized as a foreign agent mass media in Russia).

He noted that these aircraft should be deployed at various airfields across the country to ensure quick response to threats.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said earlier that a "breakthrough agreement" had been reached on the supply of 42 F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands. Apart from that, Denmark also announced plans to transfer 19 F-16s to Ukraine, with Kiev receiving six of them before the end of this year. Denmark has around 30 F-16 fighter jets that will be decommissioned when the country switches to the more modern F-35. The Dutch air force has 42 such jets.

Denmark and the Netherlands have already announced plans to train Ukrainian pilots with assistance from nine more countries. Danish Acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said in July that training would begin in August in Skrydstrup in southern Jutland. The training program is expected to take at least six months.

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