The Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksii Reznikov, has said when Ukraine will be ready to deploy F-16 fighter jets on its own territory.

According to him, Ukraine will not use these warplanes during the expected summer counteroffensive against the Russian invaders.

The Minister made the statement in an interview with NHK on Sunday in Singapore.

He told reporters that the F-16s would not make a difference on the battlefield this summer.

Reznikov said that it takes time to train Ukrainian pilots on Western fighter jets.

Also, according to him, Ukraine will have to make arrangements with its partners to secure engineers and technicians who can maintain and repair the sophisticated jets.

According to the Minister, Ukraine will be ready to deploy F-16 fighter jets in autumn or winter.

The head of the defense department added that currently some Western countries were already training Ukrainian pilots to operate the combat planes, and some have offered such assistance.

In early June, at a summit in Moldova, several European Prime Ministers discussed with the President of Ukraine the training of Ukrainian pilots in the operation of F-16 fighter jets.

At a press conference in Chisinau, the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, said that they had already “made a schedule for these exercises.“ He also added that “Poland will help Ukraine train F-16 fighter pilots.”

As previously reported, Denmark and the Netherlands will lead a European coalition to conduct training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

In May of this year, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced the required number of F-16s, which is about 48 fighter jets. The Ukrainian Air Force noted that the effectiveness of the operations of American HARM missiles and JDAM bombs, which Ukraine had already received, would be much better in coaction with F-16 fighters. It would significantly increase the effectiveness of the use of weapons.