That whole thing about Ukrainians not being capable of operating western military gear reeks to high heaven of some sort of orientalism but with an eastern-european flavor.
It's a very, very weird thing that I've noticed happening for a long, long time. And I definitely seen it occur when it comes to Ukraine as well.
It's the sort of feeling that Eastern Europeans are less-capable, not-as-good, not-as-smart, their tiny little brains can't really handle superior western tech, it's too complicated for them, it's not their fault.
That's how you get all sorts of high western figure being surprised that Ukrainians can actually learn to pilot superior western planes.
Similar thing happened years back when Bernie Sanders went

Today, people living in Bucharest, Romania have access to much faster Internet than most of the US. That's unacceptable and must change.

Those inferior eastern euros have better internet than us muricans! AH! The audacity! How dare they.

Sorry for the rant, it wasn't necessarily direct at you. Your comment just reminded me of that.

[–] UnmeltedByRain@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

That sentiment may exist, but in this case it takes everyone a long time to gain proficiency in an F-16. Training a US fighter pilot takes years. I think, if anything, the US is very impressed with Ukrainian airmen at this point.