Washington , Feb 21:
The United States is slated to train 12 Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets this year, and they are all expected to graduate between May and August, a US Air Force spokesperson told Sputnik.
“The Air Force is slotted to train 12 UKR [Ainian] pilots in FY [fiscal year] [20]24. They will all graduate between May and August,” the spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Last month, the US Air National Guard started to train a small group of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would lead to a further escalation in the conflict because the aircraft has a modification that makes them nuclear-capable and represents a direct threat to Russia.
