Zelensky confirmed the problem with prolonged maintenance of Ukrainian F-16s in Europe

President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that about half of the F-16 fighter jets have been in Europe for a long time for repairs and technical maintenance. He said this to the Financial Times, according to Європейська правда.

Zelensky spoke about Ukraine's difficulties in countering Russian drone attacks. According to him, the F-16 fighter jets have proven effective against new Russian drones with jet engines, but too many aircraft – about half – have been in Europe for a long time for repairs and technical maintenance.

According to him, the return of some aircraft is delayed so much that Ukraine loses precious time when the fighter jets are most needed to protect its airspace.

Zelensky noted that Kyiv seeks assistance from Western partners to move most of the technical maintenance work to the territory of Ukraine, arguing that keeping the aircraft closer to the theater of military operations will allow them to be returned to service faster.

He emphasized that the race to counter Russian drones faces obstacles, in particular a shortage of engines for interceptors.

"Engines are a key point, we really import a lot of engines. There are some engines of domestic production, but they are not enough", – emphasized Zelensky.

At the end of September, Zelensky announced an agreement with Belgium, which provides for the transfer of three F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by the end of the year.

Also recently, he told the Norwegian Prime Minister about the need for air defense and provision of F-16s.

The problem with technical maintenance of Ukrainian F-16s became public back at the end of September. As wrote Kurs Ukrainy referring to The Wall Street Journal, more than half of the F-16 fighter jets delivered to Ukraine may have been temporarily unavailable for combat sorties due to prolonged routine maintenance in Europe. In some cases, maintenance of aircraft in Belgium, according to the publication, stretched up to 40 weeks. Zelensky's current statement actually for the first time directly confirms the scale of this problem from the Ukrainian side.

The availability of F-16s has become especially important due to the sharp increase in the number of Russian jet drones. Fighter jets are used to intercept them, but this creates additional demand not only for operational aircraft, but also for ammunition. As reported, Spain, Belgium and Poland have already started transferring 20mm ammunition for F-16s to Ukraine. According to the words of Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, the use of such weapons against high-speed drones has proven effective, and the issue of stocks of this caliber has become one of the priorities in negotiations with partners.