MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. The first US-made F-16 fighter jets will be delivered to Ukraine as early as this July, Vadim Ivchenko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada committee on national security and defense, said.
"We will have the first F-16s this month," he told the Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Post.
The politician clarified that Kiev plans to deploy them only in short-range operations. There are still questions about how the fighter jets will be operated at the front, how many long-range missiles and what radars they will be equipped with, Ivchenko said.
The newspaper claimed that theoretically, the Ukrainian Air Force could scramble up to a dozen of such aircraft simultaneously, but the wartime realities and the relevant training of Ukrainian pilots will result in a low number of F-16 combat sorties.
On Tuesday, Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said that the permit for deliveries of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine had already been issued and that the first jets will be sent shortly. In total, Amsterdam has pledged at least 24 fighter jets to Kiev.
Ukraine has long been urging its partners to provide F-16 fighter jets. However, the West stresses that it is impossible to send such aircraft to Kiev without proper training of pilots and ground service personnel. The Netherlands, Denmark, the United States and some other Western countries are currently actively involved in training Ukrainian pilots. Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the deliveries of new weapons and equipment, including F-16s, to Ukraine would not reverse the situation on the frontlines, but will result in its protraction. He also pointed out that if supplied to Ukraine, F-16 fighters will burn exactly like German-supplied Leopard tanks do.