He said this following a meeting of the multinational group created by the West to coordinate the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
According to Austin, during the last meeting, several Western countries discussed plans to train pilots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine using the F-16.
"And I want to express special gratitude to Denmark and the Netherlands, who decided to lead the European coalition to prepare Ukrainian forces for the use of the F-16," TASS quoted him as saying.
Earlier, Yuriy Ihnat, adviser to the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the training of Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighters has not yet begun.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, in an interview with International Affairs magazine, said that the West would not achieve any goals by supplying F-16s to Ukraine.