By Niklas Pollard, Justyna Pawlak
VILNIUS (Reuters) -A coalition of 11 nations will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets in August in Denmark, and a training centre will be set up in Romania, officials said on Tuesday on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Lithuania.
NATO members Denmark and the Netherlands have been leading international efforts to train pilots as well as support staff, maintain aircraft and ultimately enable the supply of F-16s to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
“Hopefully, we will be able to see results in the beginning of next year,” Denmark’s acting defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen told reporters following a signing ceremony.
So far, no countries have committed to sending F-16s to Ukraine, though Poland and Slovakia have supplied 27 MiG-29s to supplement Ukraine’s fleet of combat aircraft.
Kyiv, which has launched a counteroffensive against Russian forces, has repeatedly called for Western countries to supply aircraft and train its pilots to fly them, to successfully counter Moscow’s aerial dominance.
“We have to defend our civilian population, our infrastructure, critical objects, our schools, our universities. That’s why for us it is very important that this fighter jet coalition starts up,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told reporters.
“I hope – I am an optimist – that after six months we will see results,” he said.
At the summit, due to end on Wednesday, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine’s future lies within the alliance but stopped short of handing Kyiv the invitation or timetable for accession that the country has been seeking.
(Reporting by Niklas Pollard and Justyna Pawlak)
