West Far from Shipping F-16s to Kiev, Lot of Work to Be Done — Pentagon

"It would be premature to give a specific date on any time the F-16 or any other type of advanced aircraft to be employed in combat in Ukraine," US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. General Mark Milley AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

© AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

BRUSSELS, June 15. /TASS/. Western states are far from implementation of plans to ship US-made F-16 planes to Ukraine, and a lot of work is yet to be done for that, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said Thursday.

He was asked to comment on the status of the program on shipment of warplanes to Ukraine during a press conference after a meeting of Western contact group that coordinates arms shipments to Ukraine in Brussels.

"We had a session today with a variety of countries; we are early in the planning process [of this program]. I think there is an intent by several countries that have stepped up to take the lead - the Netherlands and Denmark - in terms of the planning. There is a lot of work left to be done. I think it would be premature to give a specific date on any time the F-16 or any other type of advanced aircraft to be employed in combat in Ukraine," the general said.