Zelenskyy announced the supply of the warplanes, which Kyiv has lobbied for since the first year of the war, nearly two and a half years ago, as he met with the F-16-trained air force pilots.

“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,” he said, flanked by two F-16s with two more flying overhead at a location that authorities asked not to be disclosed for security reasons.

Zelenskyy also said it had taken 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,” said the Ukrainian president.

The fighter jets may be able eventually to tip the scales in favor of Ukraine in terms of the desperately needed air superiority, although it remains unclear how much of an immediate impact they will have. As Zelenskyy himself admitted, Ukraine still did not have enough F-16s or pilots trained to use them.

“The positive thing is that we are expecting additional F-16s, […] that many guys are now training,” he said, adding that it is important that Kyiv’s allies find ways to expand the training programs and opportunities for both Ukrainian pilots and engineering teams.