Currently, only eight Ukrainian pilots are being trained to fly the F-16 jets in the United States. Kyiv asked Washington to provide at least ten more places in the training programs, but its request was rejected.
The Times writes about it.
According to Oleksandra Ustinova, Head of the Special Parliamentary Commission on Arms and Ammunition, due to the delay in training, Ukraine is likely to have only 20 pilots fully trained to fly F-16s by the end of the year.
"So far we're going to have fewer trained pilots than fighter jets," she said.
Ustinova said that only eight Ukrainian pilots are currently being trained in Tucson, Arizona, and another twelve are being trained at an air base in Denmark. A third training program in Romania has not yet begun.
Ukraine asked the United States to provide at least ten more places in the training programs, but the request was rebuffed because other countries are allegedly ahead of Ukrainian pilots in the queue for training places.
A representative of the US Department of Defense also claimed that Ukrainian pilots have difficulties with their English language skills and the flight program. Ustinova called such claims "ridiculous".
Earlier, we wrote that Russia is trying to hit Ukrainian airfields before F-16s delivery.