Spain has so far avoided committing itself to the training of Ukrainian pilots, arguing that it does not have the F-16 combat plane, which will be sent to Kiev for air defense against attacks by Russian troops. However, other countries in which their Air Force does not have this fighter model either have taken the step to instruct future Ukrainian pilots in their territory, reports Europa Press.
“Absolute and total support within our availability to Ukraine. And on the issue of fighters, solidarity with other countries, but specifically Spain does not have the F-16,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles explained this week in Brussels. before a meeting with their European counterparts. According to her, she remarked, the Spanish Air Force operates the F-18 and Eurofighter fighters, and each model has “its dynamics.”
However, other European countries that do not have F-16s either have offered the possibility of training Ukrainian pilots in the handling of Western combat aircraft. This is the case, for example, of France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, opened the door to this possibility to help the country “resist the Russian offensive.”
The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, also promised to train Ukrainian pilots, although not to send fighters. The Royal Air Force operates F-35s and Eurofighters and also has no F-16s in its ranks; and in the same situation is Belgium, which has also made the offer to kyiv.
The US president, Joe Biden, was the one who opened the door last week during the G7 summit held in Japan for his allies to train Ukrainian pilots for the use of F-16 fighters, although there has been no concrete decision taken in regarding the delivery of these devices.
This Thursday, at a meeting of the group of countries allied to Ukraine, in which Spain also participated, the US Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, expressed his desire for this training to begin “in the coming weeks”, with a view to reinforcing the capacity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the face of the counteroffensive that Kiev plans to launch against the Russian troops imminently.
The High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, also applauded this initiative and encouraged the countries to join it. “It’s always the same. We argue, and at first everyone is reluctant, and in the end, with the Leopards, with the F-16s, we came to the decision to provide this military support because it is absolutely necessary for the Ukrainians to continue defending himself”, he summarized.
Other countries that have shown themselves willing to train pilots are Denmark and the Netherlands; and also in this case they do have F-16 in their ranks. So does Portugal, which has said it can train pilots but not send planes to Ukraine because it has a limited number of units and needs them for its army.
Ukraine sees the delivery of these planes as an essential element of its counter-offensive plans, as its Air Force continues to rely on Soviet-era planes. “We do not control the sky,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky has repeatedly repeated in his meetings with Western leaders.
The initiative was also applauded by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who believes that the training of pilots is a first step towards the possibility of supplying combat aircraft and, in addition, it is a show of support for Ukraine “in the long term”.
However, this movement has not been well received by Russia, which has warned that the possible shipment of F-16 combat aircraft to Ukraine would entail “colossal risks” for the United States and its allies in the context of an escalation of the armed conflict. “We see that Western countries continue to escalate. It involves colossal risks for themselves,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.
