Portugal can train Ukrainian pilots to use the F-16 fighter jets, but cannot send its own at the moment, Portuguese Foreign Minister Joao Gomez Cravinho said on Monday.
Portugal is open to this possibility. We have very good pilots and instructors, available to work with colleagues from other countries and they also have F-16s to train Ukrainian pilots.”Mr. Cravinho said at the end interview European Union foreign ministers in Brussels.
Portugal does not have an unlimited number of aircraft.added the minister.
Referring to the F-16s that the Portuguese Air Force currently has in its fleet, the Minister said: “[n]We have what we need to meet our national obligations as well as those of NATO, so, for the time being, this question does not arise..
Speaking to Portuguese journalists, Cravinho also said he was waiting for new EU sanctions against Russia to be approved at the EU summit in late June, adding that the 27 EU member states would study the list of companies to be sanctioned by Kiev. .
“This is being worked on. Naturally, this is an ongoing negotiation process and so it is always difficult to make any predictions, but we hope that this will be the case.”He made it clear when asked whether the 11th EU sanctions package will be approved at the end of June.
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