Sweden received a request from Ukraine to transfer Gripen fighter aircraft. The matter is being considered as these aircraft are important for the national defense of the country.

Paul Johnson, Minister of Defense of Sweden, shared this when answering the question of European Pravda.

“Yes. Of course, we know (about Ukraine’s request), President Zelensky also asked for it. When it comes to Gripen, we are currently facing limitations due to the fact that these aircraft are also very important to maintain our territorial integrity and sovereignty. So this will be a serious obstacle in terms of resources for our national defense,” he said.

He also clarified that the current priority for Sweden is to strengthen the air defense of Ukraine.

“Yesterday, I had the opportunity to discuss this with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Reznikov. We are also working with other countries to strengthen air defense,” he added.

The Swedish government has already provided Ukraine with military aid in the amount of about one billion euros and is ready to continue its support.

Training of the Ukrainian military to use the CV-90 should start already next week.

“We are significantly increasing our support for Ukraine. Next week, we will start training the Ukrainian military on over 50 CV-90 IFVs. We provide various means of air defense, and winter clothing, and are determined to strengthen support for Ukraine,” he added.

It should be noted that after the last meeting in the Rammstein format, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that he had no statements regarding the supply of combat aircraft to Ukraine.

“Regarding the issue of planes. I don’t have any aircraft announcements today,” Austin said.

On February 10, Ukraine made an official request to the Netherlands on the possibility of transferring F-16 fighter aircraft.

Great Britain also announced that it is ready to start military training Ukrainian fighter jet pilots.

The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a light single-engine multi-role fighter produced by the Swedish Saab AB aerospace company.

The aircraft is in service with Sweden, Thailand, the Czech Republic, Hungary, South Africa, and Brazil.