‘We’ll have a fighter jets coalition’: Ukraine’s Defence Minister on today’s negotiations at NATO HQ

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said that he is “certainly satisfied” with the outcome of the negotiations with Ukraine’s allies at the NATO HQ in Brussels, as per a newsperson for Novaya-Europe.

“Today, we heard very important news about the so-called ‘birds coalition’, or the fighter jets coalition. Today we saw commitment from our partners [as it was said that] the training for our pilots will start,” Reznikov said. “Together we will build up a consortium of fighter jets. We’ll start it with the F-16, the Netherlands and Denmark being the leaders.”

Reznikov also reported “good news from the Swedish partners”: “We will have an option to test, just test the capabilities there,” he said. “As you know, we have a tank coalition, an air defence coalition, an artillery family, an MLRS family. I’m sure we’ll have a ‘birds coalition’ as well."

A meeting of NATO defence ministers started in Brussels earlier today. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg mentioned the Ukrainian counteroffensive: “Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive. What we see is fierce fighting. It is still early days. But we also see that the Ukrainians are making gains and that Ukraine is able to liberate occupied land," he said.

Stoltenberg mentioned that one of the main issues the defence ministers will address together with Ukraine’s Defence Minister Reznikov is how to sustain and step up support to Ukraine. He also said the ministers are expected to agree that 2% of GDP spent on defence is but a minimum needed to be invested in the shared security. “Then we will also address how to further ramp up production,” he added.