Reznikov stated that Eurofighter fighters would be very useful to Ukraine
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov sees the possibility of receiving Eurofighter Typhoon fighters from Germany. He said this in an interview with the publication of the German media group Funke and the French newspaper Ouest France, published on May 30.
"If Great Britain and Germany combined their capabilities to transfer Eurofighter fighters, it would be an important step," he said.
According to him, just as Ukraine was given three types of heavy tanks (German Leopard 2, American Abrams and British Challenger), it could have three types of combat aircraft.
"The largest part should be F-16s, of which there are more than 5,000 in the world. But Eurofighter and Gripen would also help us," said Reznikov.
The minister emphasized that Ukraine needs 120 fighters in total.
We note that in May the creation of the so-called aviation coalition was supported by three countries - Great Britain, France and the Netherlands. For now, we are only talking about training missions for Ukrainian pilots using Western aircraft. Belgium, Portugal, Denmark and Norway also expressed their willingness to train Ukrainian pilots.
According to the Pentagon, the training of Ukrainian F-16 pilots will take place in Europe. The coalition to train F-16 pilots was led by the Netherlands and Denmark.
Ukraine will receive F-16 fighters from its allies on the condition that the aircraft, like other Western weapons, will not be used for strikes on the territory of Russia, the White House announced on May 20.
Ukraine can get F-16 already this autumn, hinted at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. The department assumes that the Netherlands will be the first country to hand over fighters to Ukraine (the state recently terminated the deal for the sale of F-16s to the private American company Draken International).
Jake Sullivan, the adviser to the US president on national security issues, noted that Biden has not yet decided whether the US will also transfer fighter jets to Ukraine.
Sweden, at Ukraine's request, is organizing pilot training on JAS 39 Gripen fighters, but there is no talk of their transfer yet, the country's Defense Minister Paul Jonson said.
