Ukrainian Air Force spokesman, Colonel Yuri Ignat, told to Reuters the country's pilots had trained for years and conducted joint exercises with U.S. pilots precisely because "we understood that there could be such a scenario".
Ukraine now needs fighter jets such as American F-15s and F-16s to supplement Ukraine's ageing Soviet-era MiG-29s and Sukhoi planes, he said, in order to overcome Russia's numerical and technological superiority in the air.