Ukrainian pilots have started testing Swedish Gripen fighter jets. Ukraine intends to seek to obtain these aircraft to strengthen its air defence.

This was announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson. Aviation was an important topic of talks with the Swedish prime minister on 19 August, and in the next two days the Ukrainian president will hold talks on strengthening Ukraine's air power with several other partner countries.

During the press conference, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian pilots had already begun testing Swedish fourth-generation JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.

"We talked about Gripen aircraft. This is the pride of Sweden. Gripen tests have begun with the participation of our pilots. Today, we have discussed in detail our further steps to open the topic of receiving Swedish Gripen," the Head of State said.

In addition to the talks with the Prime Minister of Sweden, Zelenskyy intends to raise the issue of the transfer of Swedish Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine during a meeting with the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament and representatives of all political forces in Sweden.

The topic of strengthening Ukraine's air power will also be one of the key issues over the next two days: the Ukrainian president has announced talks on this topic with partners from several Western countries.

"Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, I will have talks with several other states. I am confident that we, together with our partners, will do everything and achieve the appropriate result in the sky so that the Russians do not have an advantage. When they control the sky, we cannot move quickly on the ground. And we need it," Zelenskyy said.

The Head of State also informed that Ukraine would soon receive another package of military assistance from Sweden.

"We are now preparing the transfer of a new, 13th package of Swedish military assistance. This package contains what is important: ammunition for air defence and combat vehicles, spare parts for armoured vehicles, demining equipment. Everything that will make Ukraine stronger on the battlefield," the President stressed.

Back in June, it was announced that Sweden would train Ukrainian pilots on Jas 39 Gripen fighters. The training programme was supposed to include, among other things, simulator training and test flights. According to media reports, the process was launched by an agreement between Ukraine and Sweden on 12 July on the exchange of classified data and the expansion of military cooperation.

A month before the announcement of the decision to train Ukrainian pilots, Sweden was against the transfer of JAS Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine.

Earlier, Ukraine made a lot of effort to secure the agreement of its Western partners in principle to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. Ukraine needs them to defend itself against constant Russian shelling and to counter Russian aircraft.

On 17 August, the US approved the shipment of F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands. However, as the US stated, these aircraft can only be delivered after the pilots have completed their training, and Ukrainian pilots will start training on F-16s only at the end of August.

Therefore, as stated in the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the army will not receive F-16 fighters this autumn or winter.

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