"Consultations are underway for the Gripen and Eurofighter," Umerov said, adding that Ukraine would soon be able to report on the results of these negotiations.
Umerov recalled that Ukraine's Western partners promised to supply the country's armed forces with US-made F-16s and French Mirage-2000s.
The possibility of transferring Swedish Gripen planes to Ukraine back in the summer of 2022 was announced by US Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Brown Jr. However, in 2023, the Swedish authorities noted that they needed the aircraft themselves before the country joined NATO.
This summer, Sweden's then-Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that as long as the F-16 delivery program was in effect, Stockholm would not transfer its fighter jets to Ukraine, as according to the Ukrainian side, using two systems at the same time would be "too much."
Former Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat noted that it is difficult to maintain different types of aircraft at the same time, and that it is therefore necessary to focus on one. According to Ignat, before receiving the F-16, Ukraine had four types of aircraft in service. At the same time, in August 2023, Volodymyr Zelensky's office said that Ukrainian pilots had begun testing the Gripen.
Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine directly involve NATO countries in the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. According to Lavrov, the US and NATO are directly involved in the conflict, not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel.