Greece has offered to train Ukraine’s fighter pilots
in response to the announcements by Denmark and the Netherlands to provide F-16s to Kiev.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Greece will participate in the training of Ukrainian Air Force pilots to operate F-16 fighter jets.
Greece has offered to train fighter pilots in response to Denmark and the Netherlands’ announcement that they would give the Ukrainian Air Force the first F-16 airplanes that were constructed in the United States. This development is regarded as tactically essential to Ukraine’s defense against a Russian invasion.
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a list of 4 things
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Giving Ukraine F-16 fighter jets is “a colossal risk,” according to Russia
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Romania will shortly begin training F-16 fighter pilots from Ukraine.
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Ukraine’s air force says it won’t be using F-16 fighter jets made in the US this year.
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Netherlands claims that the US has authorized sending F-16s to Ukraine.
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“Today, the aviation coalition has an important result. Greece will take part in our F-16 pilots’ training. I appreciate this proposal, Zelenskyy stated on Monday in Athens during a press conference he shared with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime minister of Greece.
Greek pilots are highly skilled in operating the US-built warplanes, which make up the majority of the Greek Air Force.
Zelenskyy omitted to mention the specifics of the pilot training program, but officials from a coalition of 11 countries had previously stated that the Ukraine’s pilots will train in Denmark and Romania for the F-16 aircraft. The first Ukrainian F-16 pilots will start training this month, and they should be ready by the beginning of 2024.
Zelenskyy said earlier on Monday that the promised F-16 aircraft supplies had given him confidence that Ukraine could put an end to Russia’s invasion. Zelenskyy is wrapping off a European tour that included earlier stops in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Denmark.
During a visit to the Eindhoven airbase in the Netherlands on Sunday with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Zelenskyy referred to the decision to give the jets as “absolutely historic, powerful, and inspiring for us.”
Rutte stated that the number of fighter jets to be transferred to Kyiv would be decided following discussions with Ukraine’s partners. The Dutch Air Force currently possesses 42 F-16s.
Russia has long cautioned that supplying F-16s to Kiev would pose a “colossal risk” and might worsen its ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Air Force Commander, Mykola Oleshchuk, is of the opinion that F-16s will enable Ukrainian forces to counter Russia’s principal aviation threat, the SU-35 jet fighter, according to the Washington, DC-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW). According to the ISW, Russia would be forced to “temporarily stop flying combat missions to develop a response” if Ukraine could take out between 2 and 5 percent of its SU-35s.
The ISW said, “Oleshchuk argued that this brief break would grant Ukraine momentary air supremacy and allow Ukrainian forces to dramatically speed up counteroffensive operations.
Since Russia’s invasion, Greece has also been a steadfast ally of Ukraine, offering both humanitarian help and arms such infantry fighting vehicles, assault rifles, rocket launchers, and ammunition.
On Monday, Prime Minister Mitsotakis declared that Greece would “be present in the titanic effort to reconstruct and rebuild” Ukraine, with “particular emphasis on Odesa”.
Greece, a traditionally close ally of Russia united by centuries of custom and a common Orthodox Christian faith, has changed under Mitsotakis and categorically denounced Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time that it is sheltering thousands of Ukrainian refugees and their families, Greece last year expelled 12 members of Russia’s diplomatic and consular posts.
Met with Nikos Panagiotopoulos, his equivalent at the time, in Athens in April.
Reznikov predicted that after the conflict, Ukraine would turn to Greece for help in clearing the Sea of Azov of mines and strengthening its navies.
