Ukraine war: The United States will back Ukraine's purchase of F-16 fighter fighters.

The US has announced that it will support providing advanced fighter jets including US-made F-16s to Ukraine and also back training Ukrainian pilots to fly them. President Volodomyr Zelensky welcomed the decision, calling it a "historic decision" and looking forward to discussing the practical implementation of the plan at the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The US had previously been sceptical about providing Ukraine with modern fighter jets, but this change in US policy is significant. Training pilots to fly F-16 jets will take time and nations will need to agree to supply the jets. The UK, Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark also welcomed the US move. The US had previously been sceptical about providing Ukraine with modern fighter jets, but this change in US policy is significant. The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte have announced an "international coalition" to provide fighter jet support for Ukraine. The UK will set up a flight school to train Ukrainian pilots, and French leader Emmanuel Macron will not provide jets. However, some opposition to the jets has centred around maintenance issues, and Nato member countries have expressed their worries that handing jets to Ukraine would be viewed as escalating the war. At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine was believed to have around 120 combat capable aircraft, but officials say they need up to 200 jets to match Moscow's air-power. Mr Zelensky has primarily been asking its allies for F-16s, which can travel at twice the speed of sound and can engage targets in the air or on the ground. Experts say modern fighters like the F-16 would help Ukraine strike behind Russian lines. Earlier this year some Eastern European countries sent Soviet-era Mig fighter jets to Ukraine.