Ukrainian pilots have started flying F-16s, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, confirming the long-awaited arrival of the US-made fighter jets more than 29 months since Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s president announced the use of F-16s, which Kyiv has long lobbied for, as he met military pilots at an airbase flanked by two of the jets, with two more flying overhead. “F-16s are in Ukraine. We did it. I am proud of our guys who are mastering these jets and have already started using them for our country,” Zelenskiy said at a location that authorities asked reporters not to disclose for security reasons. The arrival of the jets is a milestone for Ukraine after many months of waiting, though it remains unclear how many are available and how much of an impact they will have in enhancing air defences and on the battlefield. Russia has been targeting bases that may house them and has vowed to shoot them down. The F-16s had been on Ukraine’s wishlist for a long time. They are equipped with a 20mm cannon and can carry bombs, rockets and missiles. Talking to reporters on the tarmac of an airfield, Zelenskiy said Ukraine still did not have enough pilots trained to use the F-16s or enough of the jets themselves. “The positive thing is that we are expecting additional F-16s ... many guys are now training,” he said. Videos showed the F-16 in operation over the western city of Lviv and Odesa in the south-east, defending Ukrainian airspace. The F-16s will likely be deployed to intercept Russian missiles and drones that have relentlessly bombarded Ukraine, suppress enemy air-defence systems, and strike Russian troop positions and ammunition depots with air-to-ground missiles, said Federico Borsari, of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. “They will be able to affect some of the dynamics [of the war],” Borsari told the Associated Press. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday the F-16s would not be a “magic pill” to alter the course of the war. He added that Moscow has already offered rewards to service personnel who destroy F-16s. Ukraine has been promised more than 60 of the US-built jets from Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway and agreed to take charge of training Ukrainian pilots. The weapons and ammunitions have reportedly been pledged by the US. Analysts said the Kremlin would delight in destroying the Nato-supplied jets on the ground with long-range missiles, producing invaluable propaganda, after having targeted Ukraine’s limited number of suitable airfields. Ukrainian officers have indicated that some of the F-16s could be stationed on military bases used by allies abroad to protect the jets from Russian attacks. Ukraine has previously relied on an ageing fleet of Soviet-era warplanes that are outgunned by Russia’s more advanced and far bigger fleet. Russia has used that edge to conduct regular long-range missile strikes on targets across Ukraine and to pound Ukrainian frontline positions with thousands of guided bombs, supporting its forces that are slowly advancing in the east. “This is the new stage of development of the air force of Ukraine’s armed forces,” Zelenskiy said. “We did a lot for Ukrainian forces to transition to a new aviation standard, the western combat aviation,” he added, citing hundreds of meetings and unrelenting diplomacy to obtain the F-16s. It remains unclear what missiles the jets are equipped with. A longer range of missile would allow them to have a greater battlefield impact, military analysts say. Zelenskiy said he also hoped to lobby allied neighbouring countries to help intercept Russian missiles being launched at Ukraine through conversations at the Nato-Ukraine Council platform. “This is another tool, and I want to try it, so that Nato countries can talk to Ukraine about the possibility of a small coalition of neighbouring countries shooting down enemy missiles,” he said. “I think this decision is probably difficult for our partners, they are always afraid of excessive escalation but we are fighting that.”