The Ambassador of Ukraine in Lisbon said that the training of combat pilots is overdue, but will begin soon

Ukrainian Ambassador to Lisbon Marina Mikhailenko expressed regret over the delay in the training program for Ukrainian combat pilots due to technical reasons, but said that it was about to begin in several countries, including Portugal.

In an interview with Lusa, the first since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stationed her in Lisbon last February, Marina Mikhailenko repeated Kiev’s request that the allies reach an agreement on the supply of modern fighters, such as the North American F-16, which is and Portugal, similar to what happened in the recent past with the delivery of German-made Leopard-type heavy tanks.

“We thought that training would start in June, but unfortunately, due to technical reasons, this did not happen, because we needed more time to prepare. [da formação]but I am sure that this preparation will start soon,” the diplomat said as Ukraine launches a counteroffensive to retake the territory occupied by the Russian troops that invaded the country on February 24, 2022.

Kyiv partners are coordinating their efforts to train combat pilots and so that “training can begin in the coming days,” he added.

All details, including the number of pilots, are negotiated and negotiated between countries as part of a fighter coalition led by the Netherlands and Denmark, explained the 49-year-old ambassador, who previously held various posts at the embassy. Ukraine in Rome and various posts related to European politics in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv.

The ambassador said Portugal’s military support was “very important for Ukraine”, citing in particular Lisbon’s participation in an international coalition to send tanks, donating three Leopard 2s, and a pilot training program.

However, Kyiv wants more and considers control of its airspace essential to the success of its counteroffensive, repeatedly requesting the provision of modern fighters.

Countries such as Poland or Slovakia have sent Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets, but the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine has not been agreed between allied countries, starting with the United States, ahead of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11 and 12.

“Of course we need more combat aircraft. We need to concentrate on the offensive, and we need more components for the air defense system,” the ambassador in Lisbon insisted, recalling the intense bombing of her country by Russian troops reaching targets among the civilian population. as happened last week in Lviv, west close to the border with Poland and hundreds of kilometers from the front line, where an airstrike on a residential area, according to local authorities, killed at least seven people and wounded dozens.

As for the unwillingness of the Kiev partners to agree on sending fighters and air weapons, Marina Mikhailenko recalled that this was the central topic at the last meeting of the contact group on Ukraine in Ramstein, Germany, and expressed confidence: “It will happen, we’ll see.”

The diplomat thanked for “the unconditional support provided by Portugal since the beginning of the Russian aggression”, and confirmed that Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is expected in Kiev at the end of this year, although he did not give tentative dates for security reasons.

“We look forward to the visit of the President [Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa] to Ukraine, because, if I am not mistaken, the last visit [de um chefe de Estado português] it was about two decades ago, and it’s time to organize it,” he said, referring to Jorge Sampaio’s trip to Kyiv in 1998.

This visit follows other visits by high-ranking representatives of the Portuguese government, such as Prime Minister António Costa, Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho, Defense Minister Elena Carreiras, and Parliament Speaker Augusto Santos Silva. , to which was added the trip of the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmitry Kuleba to Lisbon in May, about a year after Zelensky’s speech via videoconference in the Assembly of the Republic.

In addition to military equipment, which includes Leopard 2 armored personnel carriers, M113 armored personnel carriers, high power generators for power generation, 120 mm ammunition, medical and sanitary equipment, as well as the possibility of using the Portuguese textile industry for the production of uniforms, and even the reception of refugees, Portugal supports the creation of a special court in the case of aggression in Ukraine and committed to rebuilding schools in the Zhytomyr province, 150 kilometers west of Kiev, in particular Lyceum 25, destroyed by an air raid at the very beginning of the Russian invasion and visited by Cravigno last August.

A meeting should be held shortly with the Estonian partners also involved in this issue, in a process that is still ongoing, which implies “close contacts with the authorities, and they are committed to implementing this project and starting reconstruction as soon as possible”, which requires, according to According to the diplomat, technical details, as this is an installation aimed at children, and it will not be limited to simple work, but also a response in terms of high educational standards.

By the way, Marina Mikhailenko also noted the project of the Cascais City Council – the reconstruction of a kindergarten in Bush, a satellite of Kyiv, temporarily occupied at the beginning of the war by Russian troops, who in the meantime left the area. leaving behind a trail of destruction and massacre of dozens of civilians.

“We are very grateful to the President of Cascais and his municipality for the financial support provided in Bush and Irpin. [na mesma zona e igualmente destruída pelas forças russas]he also commented on the allusion to the second Portuguese municipality, which received the most Ukrainian refugees (3,798, just after Lisbon, according to data from the Foreigners and Borders Service in April).

According to the ambassador, “despite the ongoing all-out war,” Ukraine’s immediate reconstruction needs are estimated at $14 billion. [12,7 mil milhões de euros] and the process is “already underway” with funds coming from the confiscated Russians, the Ukrainian budget and donors.