U.S. President Joe Biden announced on the sidelines of the G7 summit that he would support joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots.
Experts see this as a first step towards delivering the jets to the Ukrainian armed forces. It could be months before a possible delivery is made, so the F-16 jets would be too late for the planned Ukrainian counteroffensive. The training of Ukrainian fighters is seen as a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Kyiv's support will continue in the medium term.