Warsaw, Feb. 1 Arming Ukraine with F-16 fighters is too a difficult undertaking, said Marcin Očepa, Deputy Minister of Defense of Poland, on the air of Polish television.
«Today, there is no such topic, if we talk about operational actions, and above all, about political decisions,» Ochepa said, noting that the Ukrainian authorities have «a long list of expectations, which they constantly coordinate with the allies.» Speaking about the F-16 fighters, he noted that «this is not a question of the transfer of weapons.» «These are not machine guns that you can just put into someone's hands,» Ochepa said.
The Polish Deputy Minister explained that the training of pilots on this aircraft takes a very long time. «Many months. If we shorten it, then I think maybe six months. But it's very urgent. In normal mode, it's much longer,» he said. “Besides, we need infrastructure and logistics,” he added.
The media previously reported that certain representatives of the US administration are lobbying for the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian military. US President Joe Biden previously answered «no» to a question from journalists whether F-16s would be delivered to the Ukrainian military. At the same time, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he did not rule out the possibility of delivering aircraft to Ukraine. The media also wrote that Paris is studying Kyiv's request for the training of Ukrainian pilots.
On Tuesday, Deputy Minister of National Defense of Poland Wojciech Skurkiewicz said that Warsaw is currently not negotiating the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
The Russian Federation has previously sent a note to all countries, including the United States, because of the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.