We understand there will be a big Russian hunt for first F-16s in Ukraine – Zelenskyy faction leader

As soon as the first Western F-16 fighter jets appear in Ukraine, the Russians will try to "hunt them down" for the sake of PR, the head of the Servant of the People faction, a member of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, David Arakhamia, said on the air of the national telethon.

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Arakhamia called one of the "bottlenecks" in the issue of supplying Western aviation that the number of promised planes is already twice as large as the number of trained people – in particular, pilots and engineers.

He called the second problem the fact that there are very few places in Ukraine that can infrastructurally serve the location of these fighters.

"Of course, there will be a hunt for them on the part of the Russian Federation. They will try to shoot down the first F-16s for the sake of PR. We understand that this will be a big hunt – they will buy agents who will leak locations and so on," Arakhamia said.

He concluded that in addition to the transfer of aircraft, there are many other issues, including their protection.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the need to expand training programs for Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilots.

He also stated that in order to catch up with Russia in its capabilities in the sky, Ukraine needs 128 Western F-16 jets.