Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba is confident that Ukraine will be able to open the "last closed door" and receive the first squadron of combat aircraft from Western partners.

At the same time, these will not necessarily be American F-16 fighters.

The corresponding statement of the Minister was published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Dmytro Kuleba, from the point of view of mass market and availability of service, the basic model for Ukraine is the American F-16.

At the same time, it is not necessary that this particular model will become the first foreign combat aircraft that Ukraine will receive.

"It doesn't matter whether it will be an American F-16, a Swedish Grippen, a French Mirage or Rafale, or a Eurofighter.

It is essential to open a position, remove the taboo and get the first squadron of aircraft.

Then we will decide, taking into account availability on the market and service, which model to place the main bet on," he emphasized.

The minister noted that Western partners are held back only by psychological barriers that previously prevented them from obtaining HIMARS, Patriot air defense systems and tanks.

In his opinion, the allies' fears about combat aircraft are not justified, as it was with previous types of weapons, so a decision should be made as soon as possible.

"Ukraine has already assembled a kind of tank zoo.

We have a decision to provide Leopard, Challenger, Abrams and we are working on obtaining French Leclerc tanks.

The main thing here is to open a position," he emphasized.

We will remind, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that during the meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine on February 14, the partner countries will announce the number of tanks and the terms of their delivery.

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