ATHENS: Greece will help train Ukrainian F-16 warplane pilots and assist the reconstruction of Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Monday.
“Today we have an important result for the air coalition: Greece will take part in training our pilots on F-16s. Thank you for this offer,” Zelensky told media alongside Mitsotakis on an official visit to Athens.
Kyiv on Friday welcomed a US decision to let Denmark and the Netherlands hand F-16 fighter jets over to Ukraine once its pilots are trained to use them.
Training by an 11-nation coalition is to begin this month, and officials hope pilots will be ready by early 2024.
Greece has been a strong supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, providing humanitarian aid and weapons including infantry fighting vehicles, Kalashnikov assault rifles, launchers and ammunition.
Mitsotakis on Monday said Greece would “be present in the titanic effort to reconstruct and rebuild” Ukraine, with “particular emphasis on Odesa.”
The Ukrainian port city in the early 19th century was the birthplace of a secret Greek revolutionary organization that helped to spark the 1821 revolution against Ottoman rule in Greece.
Zelensky is concluding a European tour with previous stops in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark.
His visit to Athens coincided with an informal dinner hosted by Mitsotakis with Balkan leaders, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Charles Michel.
The Greek PM’s office said the gathering marks the twentieth anniversary of the 2003 Thessaloniki summit confirming the European perspective of Western Balkan states.
The Ukrainian president had earlier posted on Telegram that he would hold a joint meeting and separate talks on bilateral issues with the Balkan leaders, and also meet with the European Commission president.
The other participants are the presidents of Serbia, Moldova, Montenegro and Romania, the prime ministers of Kosovo, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Croatia, and the chairwoman of the council of ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mitsotakis’ office said in a statement.
A historically Russian ally bound by centuries of tradition and a shared Orthodox Christian faith, Greece under Mitsotakis has shifted and unequivocally condemned Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last year it expelled a dozen members of Russia’s diplomatic and consular missions, and is hosting thousands of Ukrainians and their families.
In April, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov visited the Greek capital for talks with his then counterpart Nikos Panagiotopoulos.
Reznikov at the time said Ukraine after the war would seek Greek assistance in de-mining the Sea of Azov, and developing the country’s naval forces.
Greece has also offered to rebuild the maternity hospital in Mariupol that was shelled last year.
In April 2022, Zelensky gave a televised speech at a special session of Greek parliament to request assistance for Mariupol and Odessa, two Ukrainian cities that have had large ethnic Greek populations for centuries.
The session saw a rare attendance by the Greek head of state President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and Zelensky was given a standing ovation by Greek ministers and MPs.
The Greek communists and a small nationalist party boycotted the event.
Greece offers F-16 training, reconstruction help as Zelensky visits
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Greece offers F-16 training, reconstruction help as Zelensky visits
- In the evening, Zelensky was to join in an informal dinner organized by Mitsotakis for top officials from nine Balkan nations
Russia says two crew members from US-seized tanker released
- “Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” Zakharova said
- Russia announced earlier this month that the US had decided to release the Russian duo
MOSCOW: Moscow said Wednesday two Russian crew members of a tanker seized this month by the United States in the Atlantic had been released and were on their way home.
US authorities took over the Russian-flagged vessel earlier this month, alleging it was part of a shadow fleet carrying oil from countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The United States said publicly that the Marinera’s crew could be prosecuted. Russia said that would be “categorically unacceptable” and accused Washington of stoking tensions and threatening international shipping.
“Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.
Russia announced earlier this month that the United States had decided to release the two Russian crew members, but last week its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the decision had not yet been implemented.
The captain and the first officer of the tanker have left UK waters, Solicitor General for Scotland, Ruth Charteris told a court hearing Tuesday, Press Association news agency reported.
“The captain and the first officer are now aboard the US Coast Guard vessel Munro and have departed the United Kingdom’s territorial sea,” Charteris said.
Twenty-six of the 28 crew have left the ship, officials told AFP. They were processed at a military site in Inverness, Scotland, the court was told, according to Press Association.
Five wanted to travel to the United States and 21 elsewhere. None have claimed asylum, the court heard.
“At the request of the US authorities, crew members have been allowed to disembark for onwards travel,” a UK government spokesperson told AFP Wednesday.
“They will be processed in line with all appropriate immigration and legal requirements.”
Britain was not involved in the movement of the other two crew members, the government said.
The United States seized the tanker, previously known as Bella 1, which was being escorted by the Russian navy, after chasing it from near the Venezuelan coast.
It was re-flagged and re-named to bring it under Russian jurisdiction in a bid to discourage the United States from trying to take it as part of its campaign against Venezuela.
