STORY: Zelenskiy has on multiple occasions appealed to widen the scope of western military aid for Ukraine.

He told reporters:

"We also understand that we can't drag the counteroffensive out, which is why we'll start before we receive F-16s or other models. But the fact that we'd still need a couple of months to train on the aircraft and only then we'd start a counteroffensive could calm Russia down. No, this won't happen. We'll start and go forward, while at the same time, simultaneously, I think it is very important to receive western fighter aircraft.

We are capable of putting an end to this war. However, not everything is going to happen at once tomorrow. We need time to train, but we have an understanding how to do this faster, and we understand the logistics behind it. And most importantly, as of today, there are countries that have F-16s or other 'western kind aircraft' who want to, and who are ready to help us."

The Ukrainian airforce only has Soviet-era fighter aircraft.