Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, appealed to Western allies to supply the Ukrainian Air Force with F-16 fighter jets.

The statement was published on his official social media pages.

“Ukraine needs F-16s,” reads the succinct statement of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Zaluzhnyi also released a video featuring the work of Ukrainian combat aircraft, namely MiG-29 fighter jets.

The video opens with the Ukrainian military sharing how the full-scale Russian invasion began for them and how today, they have to fight the invaders’ air force using outdated Soviet-era aircraft.

The servicemen also argue for the need for Western-made modern fighter jets for the Defense Forces of Ukraine.

The video features Oleksii Manyushkin, Commander of the Tactical Aviation Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Force. He shares that Ukrainian servicemen are so motivated that they are ready to master any Western equipment in the shortest possible time to bring Ukraine closer to victory.

“The MiG-29 fighter aircraft, to be honest, is already morally outdated. The F-16 can use the entire nomenclature of Western weapons that are in service with NATO countries.

We are currently using some western weapon designs, such as the HARM. It is an anti-radiation missile, but it will be much more effective if we launch it from F-16 fighter jets,” he said.

One of the pilots mentioned that the most difficult thing is not the ability to pilot this plane but the ability to use the fighter jet in real combat.

F-16 fighter jets will provide the Ukrainian Air Force with the ability to destroy air, ground, and sea targets of the enemy.

Previously, General Serhii Holubtsov, Chief of Aviation of Ukraine’s Air Force, told The Times that an American assessment of Ukrainian fighter pilots in the US has revealed they would be ready to fly F-16 jets after less than six months of training.