Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba has called on his counterparts in Northern Europe, who arrived in Odesa, to make every effort for speeding up the decision to start training Ukrainian pilots on Western aircraft, primarily F-16.

"I turned to my colleagues, as friends, with a request to make every effort to speed up the decision to start training Ukrainian pilots on aircraft, primarily F-16. Which over time will lead to a decision to provide aircraft to Ukraine. We must drop Russia from the sky. To do this, we need not only air defense, but also combat aircraft. They are needed to cover our brigades that will launch a counteroffensive," he said at a press briefing on Friday.

The minister also noted that Ukraine needs modern fighters to protect the Black Sea and coastal areas.

"We talked a lot about this today. And there is a feeling that colleagues favorably treat this issue, for which I am grateful," he said.

The minister also noted that last night the Ukrainians were again subjected to a missile strike by Russia, and most of the missiles were shot down, in particular thanks to the air defense systems transferred to Ukraine with the participation of countries whose representatives are now in Odesa.

Representatives of Latvia, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and Finland visited Odesa on Friday.