Poland will help Ukraine train F-16 pilots says PM

Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister, has said that Poland will help Ukraine train pilots on the F-16 combat aircraft.

But he added that Poland could not provide F-16s to Ukraine because it lacked the numbers. Poland has about 48 F-16s although not all are combat ready.

"The number of F-16 aircraft at Poland's disposal is insufficient to transfer to Ukraine now, today, so there are not such expectations," Morawiecki told reporters in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, where he took part in a summit of the European Political Community on Thursday.

"We have already handed over to Ukraine our MiG aircraft, which are good planes, good fighter jets, and this has been really appreciated," Morawiecki continued.

Morawiecki also said that Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, had thanked him for Poland's participation in the organisation of a coalition (of countries which are ready to provide Ukraine with fighter jets - PAP)," the prime minister said.

Referring to the training of Ukrainian F-16 pilots, Morawiecki said that the schedule "has already been agreed upon."

Having said that Poland is also unable to give Ukraine Patriot air-defence missile batteries because it does not have enough of them, Morawiecki added he had appealed to the summit's participants to offer some of their Patriots to Ukraine.

"And I must say that this was a constructive and positive meeting," he continued, adding that "some prime ministers, who have Patriot batteries at their disposal, promised to deliver them to Ukraine."