Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his country has received its first US-made F-16 fighter jet.
“Finally, we did it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a ceremony marking the arrival of the F-16 aircraft at an undisclosed airbase in Ukraine.
On this occasion, the Ukrainian leader thanked the allies and said that he was once very reluctant to provide assistance.
The arrival of the F-16s marks a major milestone in the expansion of Ukraine’s air force capabilities, with the war-torn country’s defenses largely dependent on aging Soviet-era jets.
The Ukrainian president admitted that more F-16 fighter jets will arrive on Ukrainian soil in the near future, but we do not have trained pilots to fly them.
He did not specify how many planes have arrived in Ukraine or whether all of these planes were sent by Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States, which he specifically thanked in his speech.
It should be noted that in August last year, NATO countries have promised to send about 65 F-16 aircraft.
