OUR Poland training of Ukrainian pilots in the use of American F-16 fighters has begun, and several countries are ready to provide aircraft for Ukrainesaid today its head European diplomacy Joseph Borel.

“I am glad that in many countries, for example, in Poland, pilot training for the F-16 has finally begun. It will take time, but the sooner the better,” he said at the beginning of the meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels on military support to Ukraine.

“We have received a green light from Washington for F-16 training and are working on a specific schedule for the start of training. It is important that we do this as quickly as possible,” said Dutch Defense Minister Kaisha Hollongren.

“First of all, we start with training. Aircraft provision will be the next step,” he said, referring to “joint efforts with Denmark, Belgium, the UK and other allies.” Ollongren did not mention Poland, but Trolls Danish colleague Lund Poulsen said the F-16 issue had been discussed with Warsaw.

However, the purchase of aircraft promises to be difficult. “Britain doesn’t have F-16s,” the Dutch minister admitted.

Also, neither France nor Germany have F-16s. “We are not making a significant contribution simply because we do not have F-16s and we cannot train pilots,” German Minister Boris Pistorius said.

Sweden, Latvia and Estonia have also said they don’t have F-16s.

Fighters can be delivered to Kyiv by other EU countries, which have not yet been announced, or by the United States. They “will allow Ukraine to strengthen its air defense system,” Swedish Minister Pal Johnson said.

The ministers are expected to discuss the supply of ammunition and other weapons today. “We must provide Ukraine with all the weapons it needs,” said Estonian Hano Pevkur.

“We will deliver,” Josep Borrell assured, saying that “specific figures” for the supply of ammunition would be announced at the end of the meeting.

“Member states have presented us with invoices of 10 billion euros, much more than expected” for weapons that have been brought into Ukraine since the start of the Russian-led war, he said.

The reimbursement of about 40% of the amounts will be provided by the European Peace Mechanism (FEP), created and financed by contributions from member states outside the EU budget, which is managed by the Commission.

With an initial amount of 5.7 billion euros for the period 2021-2027, 3.6 billion euros have already been released for purchases in Ukraine.

Hungary refuses to release the new €500 million tranche, Josep Borel confirmed, but said he was “confident” that the amount would be released.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}