“That’s just the beginning”
Ukraine gets F-16 fighter jets
08/20/2023, 2:48 p.m
Ukraine has long wanted F-16 fighter jets to defend itself more effectively. Denmark and the Netherlands are now assuring President Selenskyj of the delivery. Apparently there are dozens of jets. “And that’s just the beginning,” says Zelenskyj.
The Netherlands and Denmark commit to supplying F16s to Ukraine. This is what Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. They are the first country to give Ukraine firm commitments to deliver F-16 fighter jets. However, the transfer conditions still have to be clarified, Rutte said during a visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Eindhoven. The United States gave the green light on Friday for Denmark and the Netherlands to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Rutte explained that he could not yet say how many F-16 jets the Netherlands will deliver. His country owns 42 aircraft of this type. Zelenskyy said the number should be agreed upon after appropriate training of Ukrainian pilots and technicians. At the same time, he spoke of a breakthrough for the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Kiev. On the online platform, which was formerly called Twitter, he also wrote: “42 jets. And that’s just the beginning.” The warplanes would be used to keep Russian terrorists away from Ukrainian cities.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also promised Ukraine fighter planes. The country wants to deliver 19 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Frederiksen announced at a joint press conference with Zelenskyj at the Skrydstrup airbase. The first six aircraft are to be delivered around the turn of the year, as Frederiksen said. The plan is to deliver eight next year and five more the following year.
Kiev promises operations only on Ukrainian territory
Ukraine previously pledged not to use weapons supplied by Western allies on Russian territory. “If our partners ask us to give a guarantee that this or that weapon will only be used on the territory of Ukraine, then we give this guarantee and we keep it,” Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with the AFP news agency on Wednesday. Kyiv has given such guarantees a number of times and kept them, said Kuleba.
Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, Kiev has been demanding modern F-16 jets from its western allies for military support in the fight against the Russian war of aggression, especially for its air defenses. US F-16 fighter jets are capable of targeting Russian weapon systems and ships used in attacks on southern Ukraine, a Ukrainian army spokeswoman said in late July.
However, US officials, who wish to remain anonymous, have dampened hopes that the F-16s would turn the tide of war. The fighter jets would not play a decisive role in Ukraine’s current counter-offensive given Russia’s air defense systems and contested airspace, it said. Russia, in turn, had warned of a delivery of F-16 fighter jets. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would view such a move as a “nuclear” threat given the fighter jets’ ability to carry nuclear weapons.