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Zelenskiy announces use of US-made fighter planes

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Ukraine waited long for the higher-capability jets

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Kyiv hopes they will change war, Russia vows to down them

(Edits)

By Anastasiia Malenko

Aug 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian pilots have started flying

F-16s for operations within the nation, President Volodymyr

Zelenskiy said on Sunday, confirming the long-awaited arrival of

the U.S.-made fighter jets more than 29 months after Russia's

invasion.

The Ukrainian leader announced the use of F-16s, which Kyiv

has long lobbied for, as he met military pilots at an air base

flanked by two of the jets, with two more flying overhead.

"F-16s are in Ukraine. We did it. I am proud of our guys who

are mastering these jets and have already started using them for

our country," Zelenskiy said at a location that authorities

asked Reuters not to disclose for security reasons.

The arrival of the jets is a milestone for Ukraine, though

it remains unclear how many are available and how much of an

impact they will have in enhancing air defences and on the

battlefield.

Russia has been targeting bases that may house them and

vowed to shoot them down.

Built by Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), the F-16s had been on

Ukraine's wish list for a long time because of their destructive

power and global availability. They are equipped with a 20mm

cannon and can carry bombs, rockets and missiles.

Talking to reporters at an airfield, Zelenskiy said Ukraine

still did not have enough pilots trained to use the F-16s or

enough of the jets themselves.

"The positive thing is that we are expecting additional

F-16s ... many guys are now training," he said.

It is important, he said, that Kyiv's allies find ways to

expand training programmes and opportunities for both Ukrainian

pilots and engineering teams.

'NEW STAGE'

Ukraine has previously relied on an ageing fleet of

Soviet-era warplanes that are outgunned by Russia's more

advanced and far more numerous fleet.

Russia has used that edge to conduct regular long-range

missile strikes on targets across Ukraine and also to pound

Ukrainian frontline positions with thousands of guided bombs,

supporting its forces that are slowly advancing in the east.

"This is the new stage of development of the air force of

Ukraine's armed forces," Zelenskiy said.

"We did a lot for Ukrainian forces to transition to a new

aviation standard, the Western combat aviation," he added,

citing hundreds of meetings and unrelenting diplomacy to obtain

the F-16s.

"We often heard 'it is impossible' as an answer, but we

still made our ambition, our defensive need, possible," he said.

It remains unclear what missiles the jets are equipped with.

A longer range of missile would allow them to have a greater

battlefield impact, military analysts say.

Zelenskiy said he also hoped, through conversations at the

Ukraine-NATO Council platform, to lobby allied neighbouring

countries to help intercept Russian missiles being launched at

Ukraine.

"This is another tool, and I want to try it, so that NATO

countries can talk to Ukraine about the possibility of a small

coalition of neighbouring countries shooting down enemy

missiles," he said.

"This decision is probably difficult for our partners. They

are always afraid of excessive escalation, but we are fighting

that."

Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said the jets

would help save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.

"This means that more of the occupiers will be destroyed,"

Syrskyi wrote on Facebook. "It means a greater number of downed

missiles and aircraft used by the Russian criminals to attack

Ukrainian cities."

(Additional reporting by Ron Popeski

Writing by Tom Balmforth

Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Helen Popper)