Portugal is not considering sending F-16 fighters to Ukraine at the moment because it does not have aircraft available, but it is open to training Ukrainian pilots on handling this type of aircraft.
"At this moment the donation of F-16s to Ukraine is not on the table," said the Portuguese Foreign Minister, João Gomes Cravinho, in statements to the Portuguese media after leaving the meeting of foreign ministers of the European Union held in Brussels.
Portugal "does not have an unlimited number of aircraft", only those "necessary" to comply with its "national obligations" and within NATO, so at this time it is not considering sending aircraft.
However, he is "open" to the possibility of giving training in handling the fighters.
"We have very good pilots and trainers and they are available to work with colleagues from other countries, like Denmark or the Netherlands, who also have F-16s to train Ukrainian pilots," he said.
Cravinho also clarified that Ukraine has not requested Portugal to send the planes and that, "depending on what is necessary", logistical and aircraft maintenance support may be studied.
"We are open to hearing the requests of the Ukrainian side," he said.
The EU foreign ministers discussed on Monday the eleventh package of sanctions against Russia for the conflict in Ukraine, which is "essentially dedicated to combating the evasion of sanctions, therefore it tightens the siege," said the Portuguese minister.
Gomes Cravinho hopes that these new sanctions can be approved at the end of June.
"All this is part of an extremely important strategy to combat influences and false narratives by Russia, in relation to other parts of the world," he said.
At the recent G7 summit - France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States and Canada - a new sanctions initiative against Russia, led by Washington, Ottawa and London, was announced to punish the hundreds of individuals and companies that they are helping the Kremlin dodge sanctions.
Along these lines, the EU is preparing the eleventh package of sanctions, which has met with resistance from some Member States for pointing out companies from third countries that help Moscow evade restrictive measures.
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