 Ukraine won't be given fighter jets for this counter-offensive. Ukraine won't be given fighter jets until its counter-offensive has finished," said Rob Bauer, the chair of the NATO military committee. In an interview with LBC Radio, the admiral said although the discussion on the aircraft was an important one, it will not be solved in the short term, nor will training the pilots or training the technicians be available before the Ukrainian counter-offensive he emphasized. The discussion on the fighters is an important one, but it will not be solved in the short term for this counter-offensive. Training those pilots, training the technicians, making sure there is a logistic organization that can actually sustain these aircraft will not be available for this counter-offensive, the official said. According to him, it is important and understandable that Ukraine is asking for Western fighters, but we should not mix it with the counter-offensive discussion now. When asked if he thought Ukraine could win the war against Russia without fighter jets, Bauer added, I think Ukraine is in an advantage because it has the Western weapons systems. It has the better training and it has, very importantly, the much higher morale and motivation. No training for Ukrainian pilots to fly the US-made F-16s has yet begun and Kiev would hate to put pressure on the West here, as it relies on them for support. Yuri Ignat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said earlier, Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov noted that Ukrainian forces will be able to begin using the F-16s in combat only next fall or winter, because training the pilots and the engineers takes time.