Yuri Ignat, an adviser to the Ukrainian Air Force command, said that Kiev would not be able to service many different types of fighters. He stated this on February 19 on the air of the All-Ukrainian telethon.

«Ukraine will not be able to arm and maintain many different types of fighters, as well as train pilots, so it is necessary to focus on the F-16,» Ignat said.

He claims that the adaptation of the Ukrainian infrastructure for the F-16 is already underway, however, as Ignat notes, it takes years to fully prepare it. He also added that now the aviation of the Ukrainian air forces consists of Soviet aircraft of the 1970s and 1980s, which are outdated mentally and physically.

Western countries have increased military and financial support for Ukraine against the background of the Russian Federation’s special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. However, recently, statements about the need to reduce aid to Kiev have been increasingly heard in the West.