English Lessons

Ukraine has been petitioning for F-16s. The country badly wants the American planes which will supposedly help them “win the war” with Russia – although I don’t think anybody actually believes it. 

 

Even US Chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley publicly downplayed the significance of the fighter jets to Ukraine’s battlefield success and suggested that his country cannot possibly supply enough to turn the tide in Kiev’s favor. 

 

Still, the US agreed to the Ukrainians' plea and they will finally get their F-16s. 

 

But its officials have been reticent to say how many – if any – F-16s they intend to send to Ukraine or have any European NATO members actually committed any of their F-16s to Ukraine. 

 

Of course, Ukrainian pilots will need to be trained to fly these advanced jets. And no less than eleven NATO countries have promptly pledged to train them. 

 

But there’s a snag. Politico reported on Friday, citing sources that the service members’ lack of English proficiency will hinder their learning. 

 

Therefore, they must first begin English language lessons and which are scheduled to commence this month in UK. 

 

For sure, learning English is going to take a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On top of that, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said last month that he expected the first F-16s to only arrive in his embattled country in early 2024. 

 

You never know, Ukraine might already have been a spent force by then.