Serhii Holubtsov

Sergiy Holubtsov was the head of the Ukrainian Air Force as of August 2023. By April 2023 Golubtsov was ranked a Colonel and was head of aviation in the Ukrainian Air Force. In April 2023 Golubtsov said that the F-16 platform was four or five times better than the ex-Soviet platforms in use by the PSZSU; at the same time Poland and Slovakia announced that they would supply surplus MiG-29s to Ukraine. Experts consider that the F-16 armed with the AIM-120D should outmatch Russian aircraft. In May 2023 Golubtsov requested three or four squadrons of 12 to 16 F-16 fighters in order to achieve air superiority over Ukraine.

As of August 2023, the UAF had flown 14,000 combat air sorties since the invasion began on 24 February 2022. Golubtsov said then that he expected the training of F-16 pilots to be complete in twelve months' time. The PSZSU faced uncertainty and delay due to ambivalent allies. The Ukrainian F-16 pilots would be trained in batches of six to eight students. The F-16 combat course would last six months. Holubtsov said that his pilots are instructed in the English language as part of their professional curriculum. Romania was expected to host the F-16 school in Europe. As of August, defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov had been able to collect the signatures of 11 countries on his Air Force for Ukraine coalition memorandum: Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Great Britain. The spare Ukrainian F-16s will be kept in reserve on NATO territory and will be used as much as possible to train PSZSU pilots.