Greece has made its first move in training Ukrainian pilots to use F-16 fighter jets, according to media outlet Defence-Point. This comes as no surprise following a NATO summit held in Lithuania last July, during which several member states, including Belgium, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Sweden, announced their intention to create an F-16 coalition. The group vowed to deliver dozens of fighter jets to Ukraine and provide the necessary training for its pilots.
Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky revealed last August that Greece had joined this coalition, pledging to train Kiev’s pilots. Defence-Point’s exclusive report on Saturday claimed that a member of the Greek Air Force has already arrived in Kiev to begin training. The outlet also highlighted that Greek pilots have a wealth of experience with F-16 warplanes, having used them for decades in close air combat against neighboring Turkey.
In addition to Greece’s involvement, a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Ukrainian MP Aleksey Goncharenko cited unnamed sources, claiming that the “first group of French instructors is already on its way to Ukraine.” French President Emmanuel Macron had previously stated that NATO should not rule out deploying its troops to Ukraine in the future, although officials clarified that the president was referring to non-combat personnel.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that Macron has been secretly working towards setting up a coalition of countries willing to deploy their military personnel to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters last Tuesday that the official deployment of Western forces to Ukraine would constitute “another step towards a serious conflict in Europe and a global conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed concerns about the expected arrival of F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine, stating on Thursday that “we cannot help but consider the supply of these systems to the Kiev regime as a deliberate signaling of action by NATO in the nuclear sphere.” Developed in the 1970s, the US warplane is used by NATO member states as a nuclear weapon platform.
In March, President Putin made it clear that Russia would take into account the fact that F-16 warplanes are nuclear-capable. He expressed confidence that contrary to Kiev’s hopes, the US-made fighter jets would not be able to change the trajectory of the conflict.