“I welcome the American decision to clear the way for the delivery of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine. This allows us to continue with the training of Ukrainian pilots,” said the minister, Kajsa Ollongren, in a message on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We remain in close contact with European partners to decide the next steps.”
Ukraine has long been asking for these sophisticated fighters to have a combat advantage. kyiv recently launched a long-awaited counteroffensive against Kremlin forces without air cover, leaving its troops at the mercy of Russian aircraft and artillery.
In addition to delivering the fighter jets, Ukraine’s allies will have to train their pilots. Washington maintains that the F-16s, like the advanced Abrams tanks, will be crucial in the conflict between kyiv and Moscow in the long term.
The Netherlands is part of the Western coalition that includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and Great Britain, which in July promised to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the fighters.
Washington must give its approval because the planes are made in the United States.
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra wrote in a message on X that the US authorization to send F-16s to Ukraine “represents an important milestone” in Ukrainian defense.
At the moment it was not clear when the first fighters will be delivered to Ukraine.
In addition to the Netherlands, Denmark said in June that it had started training Ukrainian pilots and was considering delivering planes to Kiev, but said the pilots would need six to eight months of training before the potential donation of the aircraft would be made. reality.
In a statement to Danish media, Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said the government has said on several occasions that the donation was “a natural step after training.”
Separately, Russian air defenses thwarted drone attacks on central Moscow and on ships in the Black Sea, authorities said Friday, blaming Ukraine for the incidents.
Defense systems shot down a Ukrainian drone in the center of the capital early on Friday and some of its fragments fell into an exhibition center, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The drone was shot down around 04:00 a.m. and no injuries or fires were reported from the fragments, it added.
The authorities however temporarily suspended flights at the four main Moscow airports.
The mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said some of the fragments fell on the grounds of Expocentre, an exhibition center adjacent to the business and office complex in Moscow’s financial district that was hit by drones twice in the past month. .
The area is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) west of the Kremlin. The Defense Ministry called the latest incident “another terrorist attack by the kyiv regime.”
Naval forces also destroyed a Ukrainian maritime drone trying to target Russian ships on Thursday night in the Black Sea, some 240 km (150 miles) southwest of Sevastopol, the ministry added.
The drone was shot down by fire from a patrol boat and a corvette, authorities said.
The claims could not be immediately verified.
___
Heintz reported from Tallinn, Estonia.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
