Ihnat refutes rumors of an "international squadron" of F-16s in Ukrainian skies
Kyiv • UNN
Rumors about American pilots with combat experience in Afghanistan and the Middle East, who are now performing combat missions in Ukraine, were spread by foreign media.
The Air Force stated that combat flights on F-16s are performed by Ukrainian pilots, and information about foreign pilots, which was widely disseminated by foreign media, is rumors. This was reported by the head of the communications department of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Ihnat on the air of the national telethon on February 17, UNN reports.
Details
Interesting information appeared and immediately spread through the information space. We didn't even immediately refute it; we wanted to see the reaction of the enemy, who always sees a large number of foreigners here.
Thus, the spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (as he himself noted even in his post on his Facebook page) reacted to the information from the French publication Intelligence Online that Ukraine allegedly created a separate F-16 squadron with American pilots who have combat experience in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and combat sorties are carried out with the participation of Dutch specialists.
According to Ihnat, this publication is false, and the publication itself has a dubious reputation. He emphasized that Ukraine is indeed actively cooperating with international partners within the aviation coalition, but combat flights on F-16s are performed by Ukrainian pilots.
The head of the communications department of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasized that currently our compatriots in military aviation demonstrate such a level of professionalism that surprises partner countries.
Recall
In 2025, Ukraine trained over 5,000 drone operators and new groups of Air Force pilots.