Washington D.C./25.08.23/Turan: U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday reiterated his country's commitment to supporting Ukraine 'for as long as it takes to end Russia's invasion' as he made it clear during a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
The White House said Biden congratulated Zelenskyy on Ukraine's Independence Day, and discussed the commencement of a U.S. program aimed at training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets.
The move came as the Pentagon announced on Thursday that it would soon begin training Ukrainians to fly and maintain F-16 fighter jets.
The training is expected to begin in October at the Morris Air National Guard Base in Tucson, Arizona, and will be facilitated by the Air National Guard's 162nd Wing, Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder told reporters.
The U.S.-led training is "in support of the international effort to develop and strengthen Ukraine's long-term defenses," Ryder said. The Netherlands and Denmark have announced their intentions to make F-16 aircraft from their fleets available to Ukraine.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently signaled Washington's willingness to approve the third-party transfer of the U.S.-made F-16s to Ukraine in a letter to his European counterparts.
"The training provided by the United States will complement the F-16 pilot and maintenance training that's already underway in Europe and further deepens our support of the F-16 training coalition led by Denmark and the Netherlands," Ryder said. "Moving forward we will remain in close consultation with the Danes, the Dutch and other allies to ensure U.S. training complements the broader coalition training efforts."
Ryder went on to add that the training for more experienced pilots could be completed in about five months. Prior to flight training, the pilots will receive language training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas beginning in September.
The language training will ensure that all pilots have sufficient language skills to be able to fully comprehend the "complexities and specialized English required to fly the aircraft," Ryder said.
Alex Raufoglu
Politics
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