Ukraine trained about 100 future pilots in 2025, defence ministry says

Ukraine trained nearly 100 cadet pilots in 2025, who are expected to form the backbone of its revamped Air Force.

Source: Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, reporting on the scale of aircraft personnel training in 2025

Details: The defence ministry said that Ukraine had also trained more than 5,000 operators of unmanned aerial systems last year, using both private and state instructor schools.

Quote: "Following tests and qualification exams, aircraft personnel were issued 437 state certificates confirming compliance with the highest professional standards."

More details: The Ministry of Defence called the roll-out of a network of certified training centres in Ukraine a key achievement of 2025. This became possible after the implementation of Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1129, which introduced a pilot project to certify schools training drone operators.

The ministry reported that 8 leading training organisations have gained certified status, and the total number of institutions authorised to train specialised personnel has reached 34, including 19 centres focused on UAV training.

The ministry also cited Oleksandr Kozenko, Deputy Defence Minister for Developing Aircraft Capabilities, as saying that, under agreements within the Air Force Coalition, several groups of Ukrainian pilots have completed training on modern foreign-made aircraft platforms. The programmes were adapted to real combat experience and NATO interoperability standards.

In addition to pilots, the following personnel categories have been trained abroad:

• engineering and technical specialised personnel to maintain operational readiness of advanced aircraft
• ground staff for airfield support and logistics
• a group of operators of specialised equipment to work with high-tech monitoring and reconnaissance systems.

Background:

• It was reported earlier that Poland's Ministry of Defence is working on transferring several MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. In November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine placed an order in France for 100 Rafale fighter jets.
• Shortly before that, Ukrainian Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal reported that Ukraine and Sweden agreed to localise production of Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets in Ukraine from 2033.

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