Ukraine's Zelensky Issues F-16 Fighter Jet Update

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has released a video showing off his nation's pilots preparing training on F-16 fighter jets as he touted their imminent use by Kyiv forces in the war against Russia.

The video, published on Friday, shows the pilots' preparation in Denmark on the Lockheed Martin-made aircraft, whose provision to Kyiv it is hoped will help fight in the war started by Vladimir Putin, which is now entering the third year.

Denmark and the Netherlands were the first two countries to commit to donating a total of 61 F-16s to Kyiv's forces, which Ukraine had long requested and are more advanced than the Soviet-era MiG and Sukhoi jets Kyiv has relied on.

Zelensky suggested that training for some Ukrainian pilots was entering the final stages and that the aircraft would be available soon. "All Ukrainians are waiting for the day when the first Ukrainian F-16s appear in our skies and strengthen the defense of our cities and communities," he wrote on X.

"While our pilots and personnel continue their training, I thank the F-16 coalition for bringing this day closer."

The video next to the post, which soon went viral shows how the aircraft being serviced and taking off. "Our combat experience is truly invaluable, but still, this is a very condensed training program," one pilot who was named Moonfish said.

"I think the boost here is not that combat experience but the motivation to go back and keep fighting," he said, adding that it was "more agile" than the MiGs he had been flying. "It feels like the jet wants to you to fly it more aggressively."

A technician named in the clip as Ihor admitted that, at first, the system seemed "incomprehensible to us and unrealistic to integrate in Ukraine."

"But now I realize it simplifies the work, saves time and help us move forward," he said. The video described how the F-16 would keep Russian aviation away from Ukraine's borders.

The first Danish F-16 fighter jets are expected to be handed over to Ukraine this summer, the country's defense minister Troels Lund Poulsen said, although there were "several conditions that must be met in order for Ukraine to use" them.

Poulsen said the coalition of countries providing the fourth-generation fighter jets "are now working to bring things together this summer." Meanwhile, Belgium will transfer F-16s to Ukraine, but not until 2025, while Norway has confirmed it will supply F-16s in the near future.