Biden told the G7 allies that the US would support joint F16 training efforts for the Ukrainians

(CNN) president Joe Biden informed the G7 leaders A senior US administration official told CNN on Friday that the United States will support a joint effort with allies and partners to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation aircraft, including the F-16.

The training is not expected to take place in the United States, the official said, and is likely to take place entirely in Europe. But the official said U.S. personnel would participate in the training alongside allies and partners in Europe. It is expected to take several months to complete and the official said the hope is that it will start “in the coming weeks”.

The decision marks a stark shift for Biden, who said earlier this year that he did not believe Ukraine needed the F-16s. Officials said the decision to support the training initiative came very quickly, and was made by Biden after meetings with G7 leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, where the topic of F-16s to Ukraine was a major point of discussion. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been pressing hard in recent days for countries with planes in their inventory to send them to Ukraine so that the country can better defend itself against daily Russian air attacks.

“Since the training takes place over the coming months, our coalition of countries participating in this effort will decide when we actually provide aircraft, how much we provide, and who will provide them,” the official said.

The official added that, “So far, the United States and its allies and partners have focused on providing Ukraine with the vast majority of the systems, weapons, and training it requires to conduct offensive operations this spring and summer. Discussions about improving Ukraine’s aviation force reflect our longstanding commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is on his way to the G7 meeting, tweeted that he welcomed the “historic decision of the United States and POTUS to support an international coalition of combat aircraft.”

“This will significantly strengthen our military in the sky. I count on discussing the practical implementation of this decision at the #G7 summit in Hiroshima,” Zelensky added.

In March, the United States hosted Ukrainian pilots at a military base in Tucson, Arizona, to assess their skills using flight simulators and to assess the amount of time they would need to learn to fly various US military aircraft, including the F-16s. Congress has appropriated money in the 2023 budget for such training.

CNN reported on Thursday The Biden administration has told European allies in recent weeks that the United States will allow them to export F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, sources familiar with the discussions said, as the White House comes under mounting pressure from members of Congress and allies to help Ukraine buy the jets amid intensifying air strikes. Russian.

A handful of European countries have supplies of US-made F-16s, including the Netherlands, indicating they are willing to export some to Ukraine. But the US would have to agree to the third party transfer because of the aircraft’s sensitive US technology.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said earlier this week that the UK and the Netherlands are looking to form an “international coalition” not only to buy planes for Ukraine but also to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighters, which are more advanced than the Ukrainian fighter fleet.

CNN’s Tim Lister contributed to this report.