About half of Ukraine’s F-16s have been undergoing repairs in Europe for long time, - Zelenskyy
About half of the F-16 fighter jets used by Ukraine have been in Europe for an extended period for repairs and maintenance. Due to delays in the return of the aircraft, Ukraine is losing valuable time when the fighter jets are particularly needed to defend its airspace.
According to Censor.NET, citing European Truth, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated this in an interview with the Financial Times.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukrainian F-16s have proven effective in combating new Russian drones equipped with jet engines.
At the same time, a significant number of aircraft remain in Europe for extended periods due to repairs and maintenance. The president noted that some fighter jets are returning so late that Ukraine is losing precious time in which to use them.
Ukraine wants to postpone the overhaul of the F-16s
Zelenskyy said that Kyiv is counting on assistance from its Western partners to transfer most of the maintenance work on the F-16 directly to Ukraine.
According to him, servicing the aircraft closer to the theater of operations would reduce their downtime and allow the fighter jets to return to duty more quickly.
Ukraine lacks engines for interceptor drones
The president also spoke about the challenges of countering Russian drones. In particular, Ukraine is facing a shortage of engines for interceptor drones.
"Engines are a key issue; we do import a lot of engines. We do produce some engines ourselves, but they aren't enough," Zelenskyy said.
At the same time, Ukraine continues to develop its own means of intercepting Russian UAVs and is working to build up its capabilities in this area.
Earlier, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi stated that reports of the allegedly catastrophically low operational readiness of Ukrainian F-16s and excessively long maintenance turnaround times are untrue. According to him, industrial partners continue to return the aircraft after repairs, and maintenance turnaround times are being reduced.
