London, August 27 (Prensa Latina) Romania will train Ukrainian pilots to pilot US F-16 fighter jets, Prime Minister of that country Marcel Ciolacu announced to the Financial Times newspaper, published today in that capital.
In doing so, this European country is joining a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program to train Ukrainian airmen, while Russia warns that the neighboring country’s rearmament will only serve to widen the conflict.
On February 24 last year, President Vladimir Putin ordered a military operation to protect the people of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, whose sovereignty he had previously recognized, while their authorities denounced the genocide in Kiev.
“We hope to finalize the documents for the pilots in the coming days and that will be the only obstacle left to start preparations,” said the head of Romanian diplomacy.
Ciolacu acknowledged that the increase in defense spending linked to Ukraine’s rearmament is putting severe pressure on the state budget, which could now run a deficit of 7.4 percent, according to the Romanian Central Bank.
Denmark and the Netherlands had previously declared their willingness to train the Ukrainian pilots. In the case of Copenhagen, they are also ready to deliver several such fighters to Kiev.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Moscow would consider the delivery of the above combat vehicles, one modification of which can carry strategic weapons, as a nuclear threat to the West.
Various Western powers had sent weapons worth more than $150 billion to Ukraine since February 2022, Putin denounced at the time, including howitzers, grenade launchers, medium and now long-range missile systems, tanks and cluster bombs.