During a meeting with his European Union counterparts in Brussels, the head of the Portuguese diplomacy considered his nation lacks available combat aircraft to send to Ukraine, although it is open to train pilots for the F-16s, according to television reports.
Portugal does not have an unlimited number of combat aircrafts, only the necessary ones, in order to fulfill national defense tasks and commitments within the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the official noted.
Kiev has not yet asked Portugal to supply these warplanes, but we can support with logistics and aircraft maintenance, he stressed.
The proposal to send F-16s to Ukraine was discussed at the recently concluded summit of the seven most industrialized countries held in Hiroshima, which Zelensky attended.
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